Shaped to Serve: Pov 14:20-21, (Dec 3. 2006)
Shaped to Serve Proverb 14:20-21 December 3, 2006
When I was living in Orange County California, I’d often read one of the local papers in the morning—typically the Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) or the Orange County Register, and I remember being struck by that every other page seemed to have some kind of advertisement on how you could improve your appearance through plastic surgery.
In our papers here in Vancouver, there are often ads on how to lose weight, how to make a bunch of money through 5 or 7 principles, etc., how you can win a beautiful home or condo through the lottery.
Newspapers carry all kind of ads and articles on how to get more out of life.
Book stores are filled with books on how to get more for your self in life.
Banks have posters describing how you can get more bang from your investment buck.
When was the last time you saw an ad for a financial services company that offered to show you who could plan a wise strategy to give more of your money away?
Even in Christian publishing circles, it seems like there a quite a lot of emphasis on how to get more out of life.
Some years ago, book The Prayer of Jabez was a runaway bestseller.
In all fairness to the author, he did not intend for the book to be read this way, but many “read” the book as means to enlarge their personal territory and become prosperous.
I heard of someone who was walking across a university campus with a T shirt that read, “I prayed the prayer of Jabez, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
I wonder how a book on Paul’s prayer to know the fellowship of Christ’s suffering would have fared…
Yet, the Christian life is a call to find discover true life, not through trying to get as much as we can, but through giving, through self-giving service to God and people.2x
We’ve been going through a series in the book of Proverbs, a book that deals with wisdom and life competence and one the themes that streams through the books Proverbs is that the wise, upright person serves God and others.
The writers of the book of Proverbs state that the wise person, the person integrity is willing to sacrifice their personal self-interest for the good of the larger community, whereas the wicked person is willing to sacrifice the good of the community for their personal self interest…
If you have your Bibles please turn to Proverbs 14:20-21…
20 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors,
but the rich have many friends.
21 It is a sin to despise one's neighbor,
but blessed are those who are kind to the needy.
Bruce Waltke comments, “The poor are shunned by their neighbors even if they are people of good character because people don’t want to associate with the poor because they fear that that the poor might demand something of them.” Whereas the rich may have many “friends” even if they have bad character, because the others feel like they might be an asset to them.
But the blessed person is the one who resists “calculating” and who freely shows kindness to the poor…
Proverbs 29:7… The righteous (i.e. the morally upstanding person) cares about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
The morally upright person cares for others, whether that person can benefit them personally or not, they care about justice for the poor.
Proverbs 12:10… The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel…
Animals we not nearly as doted upon then as they are here as the in Vancouver (My wife and I were with a couple this past week from another country and they surprised when they were allowed to bring their dog into the bank and stunned when bank teller asked if she could give their dog a dog biscuit.)
The wise person, the person, of integrity cares about the welfare of others, particularly the poor and even animals.
The righteous are willing to sacrifice their self-interest for interests of the wider community--whereas the wicked are willing to sacrifice the interests of the community for their self-interest.
Charles Stuart would be an extreme example of the later. He apparently murdered his pregnant wife and their unborn child and tried to deflect suspicion by claiming that a black man had killed her. Stuart had grand plans to open a restaurant which would make him rich and respected, and apparently felt that having a wife and child would distract him from reaching this goal. When Stuart became a prime suspect and subject of investigation, he jumped off a bridge in Boston.
This is an extreme example or narcissism. Scott Pederson’s murder of his wife Laci would be another extreme example…
In comparison to these people, we may think we’re not self-centered and narcissistic at all, but as writers Christopher Lasch the author ofThe Culture of Narcissism and Robert Bellah co-author of the book Habits of the Heart have pointed out, self-absorption and narcissism is rampant throughout society.
Dr. Robert Bellah discovered through the vast research he and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford did on the middle class, that the overriding riding goals of the middle class were personal success and vivid personal feelings. They found from the institution of business people want personal success, out of the institution of marriage people want personal fulfillment, and out of the institution of religion people want personal development… the personal, the self has become the overriding focus for people.
The writers of the spiritual life point out, self-absorption kills the spiritual life.2x
Serving others can help get us out of ourselves in the best sense of that word…
As we come to the final message in this series on the book of Proverbs…. I want to us to consider the service… The book of Proverbs tells us the wise, integrated person lives a life of self-giving service to God and others…
So what does this path look like?
Serving others can help us get out of ourselves, but it also involves pain and sacrifice… it involves the way of the cross…
In Luke 9 Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Taking up our cross means that we choose to lay down our interest and die to a part of ourselves to serve God and others.”
Sometimes people will say I have cross to bear and then they go on to talk about a terrible boss or a rebellious child… or some sickness… and they tend describe some kind of involuntary suffering, i.e. suffering they didn’t choose.
When Jesus calls us to take up our cross, he talking about voluntary suffering.
Jesus engaged in voluntary suffering when he died on the cross for our sins.
Jesus said in John 10 18 No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
Paul engages in voluntary suffering when he proclaims in the Rome that Jesus, i.e. is Caesar, is Lord, Kurios… knowing that he would be imprisoned for that proclamation…
Most of us are not going to go to the cross literally…
Most of us like the apostle Paul will not imprisoned for proclaiming the Gospel.
But when we voluntarily choose to forgo our self interest for the sake of God and others in self-giving service we can participate in the way of the cross…
Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, in his book the Irresistible Revolution he says: people often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it's like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn't going to ask, of course. "Hey Mother, what's wrong with your feet?"
One day a sister said to us, "Have you noticed her feet?" We nodded, curious. She said: "Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet." Years of loving her neighbor as herself deformed her feet.
That’s dying to our self and taking up the cross,
A little closer to home… when my wife Sakiko and her sister, were young children, and their mother their presented them with two toys or two pieces of pastry… Sakiko let her always pick first… (Very unlike our family growing up, where one person cut the other picked or we’d had to draw straws to decided the picking order… it was survival of the fittest among the kids in our home!) When we honor others above ourselves in homes and communities…
That’s dying to self, that’s taking up the cross…
I have a friend who is Christian business leader… I noticed he was spending time each year going to the developing world to help with some well project… I asked him about it and he said I tithe my money, the first 10% goes to God, I also tithe my time… I know we are to tithe our income, but what about our time? I said the Bible is clear that the first tenth of income is to be offered to God, but it doesn’t specifically say anything about 10% of our time going to service… in one sense all of our is to be devoted in service to God, but if you can give 10% of your time to “overt Christian service” but I think it’s a great idea…
He was giving up vacation time to serve others…
That’s a kind of death to self, taking up the cross.
This past week people who volunteered for our ministry for the homeless, Out of the Cold, because of the extreme weather alert… Volunteers came and served here, some stayed over night, giving the warmth up the warmth of their homes for a night (our power was out this past week because of the weather) and gave up their sleep…
Dorothy Sayers says, Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
We are called to life a life of service, we are called to the way of the cross…
I don’t embody this perfect by a long shot, but I want to live with this way…
Some times people who care about me, who are not Christians will say with a really caring motive, I know of a career move you could make that would both reduce your stress level and increase your income. I try to explain that I can my life goal isn’t to increase my comfort level or my income, it is service… If you are follower of Christ that’s your call too. Your particular way you express may different from me, but you are called to life of service…
Dorothy Sayers says, “Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
Roy Hattersley an outspoken atheist who works as a columnist for the U.K. Guardian, laments "It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian."
Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.
Notable by their absence," he says, were atheists' associations and free thinking clubs—the sort of people who scoff at religious people.
According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."
Hattersley says secular people do not believe that drug addiction and prostitution offend God. But Christian people who do not agree with those risk-life lifestyles are the most willing to change dirty bandages, offer medical care, and give dry sleeping bag without a trace of impatience…
“Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
The wise righteous person serves God and it involves the way of the cross.
When we choose to serve God and others, there will be pain and sacrifice--the cross, but there will also be resurrection… a meeting of God.
Paul says: Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, we carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, that is a willingness to suffer and to even literally die in serving God, and so that God’s life may be revealed in our mortal bodies….
I’m now going tinvite people in our community through to now share some of their own experiences serving:
Deanna:
two summers ago - I accepted to go to camp w/ my family & work for a week as a cook in the kitchen. I was asked to work in the kitchen – after I agreed, I naturally began to focus on the “hard” part ahead of me. The intense cooking for 7 days straight, I am no “Martha Stewart”. Then along w/ the 5:30 am early mornings & the late night prep-work until 11 or 11:30 – wow, those who know me, understand I have a few sleep issues! Even to the point of having co-workers Personally, I knew this was going toJknock on my door to wake me one morning be a stretch – something unnatural!
So, as I have learned to do in many other situations, I gave my self over to God, believing I’m a part of something greater, something bigger then myself. I wanted God to use me & the gifts He had given me to work for His glory & purpose. I consciously, and repeatedly, prayed leading up to & during that week; sharing w/ my family & friends my desire to believe in the words, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In return, God used me that week - @ times, He pushed me harder – to sacrifice, to work, to serve, to be challenged & to give truly of my self. God filled me w/ a joyful Spirit & a willing attitude, something I had prayed for - and not once did I feel over worked or tired to the point I was wanting someone to look after me.
I left that week in awe of my God! B/c it was in those times, in the “tired times, “hard times”, when I had been brought closer to my Creator, having my faith grow stronger. And through Him, I also experienced times of tremendous excitement, satisfaction, joyfulness - which flourished my soul down to its core.
Steve:
Four years ago, I moved to this neighbourhood and, ever since, I have been profoundly disturbed at the growing number of homeless people that I see on my evening walks. When Tenth launched its Out of the Cold program, I volunteered to stay overnight to look over the homeless men and women who call the gym floor their home for one night of the week.
On a bitterly cold winter night, one of the guests asked for a wake up call at 5:30am. This is not uncommon, as some of our guests work for day labour agencies. In exchange, they receive minimum wage, no benefits and no job security. When I first learned of this, it shattered my stereotype of the homeless.
After waking the guest, I went back downstairs. When he came down, I invited him to sit on a couch and placed a space heater in front of him to keep him warm. I brought him some fruit for breakfast and a small bag lunch.
As I let him out the door, he turned around, shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said with utmost sincerity and gratitude three words that caught me off guard and moved me to tears. He said, "God bless you."
I later found out that he had had a bad church experience and thought all churches were the same. He had stopped going to church until he was touched by the heart of all the volunteers at Out of the Cold. He now attends Mosaic, a Tenth Avenue Church plant. He remains homeless, yet still praises and worships God. He has helped me draw closer to God, especially in the face of adversity.
I chose to serve our Lord, hoping to bless others. Instead, it is I who has been blessed.
Kirsten:
Since I was a child, I have always drawn happy faces by my name. Constantly nagging people to be joyful, to smile, to 'turn their frown upside down'. I have always known the presence of God.
Upon arriving to a crowded 'hospital' in Indonesia for the tsunami, I found myself surrounded by death. Our team created an intensive care unit for our sickest patients at our hospital, where I nursed them all day and all night, only to have them die in my arms. The ground was filled with corpses, the smell of death lingered. I needed to escape for a few moments, and I took a walk down what was left of the streets, coming across a bridge. I stopped to rest, only to find myself watching workers discover more dead bodies. I found myself overcome with the suffering, with exhaustion, with so little hope. I felt alone, consumed and overwhelmed with grief, I felt like God was absent, a feeling I had never truly experienced.
I turned and began to walk back to the hospital, exhausted and defeated, wondering how I would get through the next few weeks with such little hope. I looked up and found a little girl shyly pointing and smiling at me, her little brothers and sisters following. Timid and scared at first noticing my height and seeing my blond curly hair. They started laughing and I started crying, overwhelmed at their smiles. I bent over and a balloon fell out of my pocket. I blew it up for them, bright and yello with a cheesy smiley face on it. They smiled with joy, and I looked into their eyes and saw them as children of God. It was this simple moment that pushed me to go on, knowing that we are all children of God.
This is what compels me to be a servant. Seeing God in the eyes of humans, knowing He is there.
The paradox of the Christian life is that is that as we are willing “to die” in service that we experience the life of God.
The path of service involves the cross, but resurrection and new life, and enables us to bless the world
At the City Hall, hearings for our Out of the Cold ministry, our ministry for the homeless here, a number of people spoke who were in favor of the program and a number of people spoke who were in opposition to the program. People opposed to the program said things like the problem the homeless ministry at the church is that it is run mostly by volunteers, they’re not professionals, we need more than a band aid, what is needed more professionally trained, government workers…
As I sat there, I thought wait a minute… as far I know I faith-based volunteer program have higher have a significantly higher rate of success than secular government programs…
I didn’t have the figures at my finger tips, but I thought I need to talk to Chuck Colson about this when I see him next week…
Chuck Colson as some of you would know, was an aide to President Nixon and went to prison for his role in Watergate… Colson became a Christian and started a ministry for prisoners and their families called Prison Fellowship.
The following week I was in Boston with Chuck Colson to attend a board meeting.
It turned out that Chuck and I rode in the same car to one of our meetings.
I asked Chuck…”When it comes to prison recidivism rates (rate of prisoners being rearrested and/or imprisoned after release how do faith-based programmed compare to secular, government programs?)
He said the faith-based programs are dramatically more successful. The general recidivism rate in the United is about 67% person (within 5 years of a person’s release from prison). People who go through the prison fellowship program and graduate have 8% rate of recidivism.
Why are is Christian based volunteer program more effective than secular, government programs? Colson said the secular programs emphasize therapy… which means they identity a person’s problem, whereas a Christian program emphasizes transformation of the whole person.
This week I was reading a done by the University of Pennsylvania on prisoner reform program. The report pointed out that secular programs tend to not work in helping keep people out of prison, but to surprise of the researchers, the faith-based ones do. The reasons they work is that faith-based programs foster inner change people and emphasize the message “You must give something to society.” People come out of the Prison Fellowship program says, “I wasn’t following when I came God into the program, I have now received Jesus, I am not the person I used to be, I now realized I need to give back to society.”
I remember Chuck Colson (in another context) talking about a retired couple volunteering with Prison Fellowship in the Midwest. They had been corresponding with and visiting a prisoner for about 20 years. The prisoner was about to be released… and this retired couple told this prisoner, “When you get out, you come and live with us until you get a job and until you can afford a place of your own, we’re you’re family…”
I remember Chuck said, “I think that prisoner is going to make it”.
Government plays a very important role in people’s live, but it’s hard to imagine a government paid worker having a greater in the life on inmate that retired volunteer couple.
Never underestimate the power that servicing and loving other can have in a life.…
When we serve, we experience death, we experience the way of the cross, the power of the resurrection, and bring blessing the world.
Does this those patterns sound familiar?
It’s the way of Jesus. Jesus died on a cross, he rose again, he resurrected, and through that brought us the world’s greatest gift—forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God.
The atheist columnist Hattersly asked, “Can’t the Christian be lived without being a Christian?”
IF the Christian life were primarily an idea, a set of propositions, the answer would be yes. The Christian Gospel is not primarily an idea or proposition, but it’s a person, it is Jesus Christ.
The way to live a life of true Christian service is invite Jesus Christ, the one who died cross, resurrected and blessed the world like none other to come and live his life through you…
Go into the Lord’s Supper.
Benediction:
“Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio htm)
When I was living in Orange County California, I’d often read one of the local papers in the morning—typically the Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) or the Orange County Register, and I remember being struck by that every other page seemed to have some kind of advertisement on how you could improve your appearance through plastic surgery.
In our papers here in Vancouver, there are often ads on how to lose weight, how to make a bunch of money through 5 or 7 principles, etc., how you can win a beautiful home or condo through the lottery.
Newspapers carry all kind of ads and articles on how to get more out of life.
Book stores are filled with books on how to get more for your self in life.
Banks have posters describing how you can get more bang from your investment buck.
When was the last time you saw an ad for a financial services company that offered to show you who could plan a wise strategy to give more of your money away?
Even in Christian publishing circles, it seems like there a quite a lot of emphasis on how to get more out of life.
Some years ago, book The Prayer of Jabez was a runaway bestseller.
In all fairness to the author, he did not intend for the book to be read this way, but many “read” the book as means to enlarge their personal territory and become prosperous.
I heard of someone who was walking across a university campus with a T shirt that read, “I prayed the prayer of Jabez, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
I wonder how a book on Paul’s prayer to know the fellowship of Christ’s suffering would have fared…
Yet, the Christian life is a call to find discover true life, not through trying to get as much as we can, but through giving, through self-giving service to God and people.2x
We’ve been going through a series in the book of Proverbs, a book that deals with wisdom and life competence and one the themes that streams through the books Proverbs is that the wise, upright person serves God and others.
The writers of the book of Proverbs state that the wise person, the person integrity is willing to sacrifice their personal self-interest for the good of the larger community, whereas the wicked person is willing to sacrifice the good of the community for their personal self interest…
If you have your Bibles please turn to Proverbs 14:20-21…
20 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors,
but the rich have many friends.
21 It is a sin to despise one's neighbor,
but blessed are those who are kind to the needy.
Bruce Waltke comments, “The poor are shunned by their neighbors even if they are people of good character because people don’t want to associate with the poor because they fear that that the poor might demand something of them.” Whereas the rich may have many “friends” even if they have bad character, because the others feel like they might be an asset to them.
But the blessed person is the one who resists “calculating” and who freely shows kindness to the poor…
Proverbs 29:7… The righteous (i.e. the morally upstanding person) cares about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
The morally upright person cares for others, whether that person can benefit them personally or not, they care about justice for the poor.
Proverbs 12:10… The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel…
Animals we not nearly as doted upon then as they are here as the in Vancouver (My wife and I were with a couple this past week from another country and they surprised when they were allowed to bring their dog into the bank and stunned when bank teller asked if she could give their dog a dog biscuit.)
The wise person, the person, of integrity cares about the welfare of others, particularly the poor and even animals.
The righteous are willing to sacrifice their self-interest for interests of the wider community--whereas the wicked are willing to sacrifice the interests of the community for their self-interest.
Charles Stuart would be an extreme example of the later. He apparently murdered his pregnant wife and their unborn child and tried to deflect suspicion by claiming that a black man had killed her. Stuart had grand plans to open a restaurant which would make him rich and respected, and apparently felt that having a wife and child would distract him from reaching this goal. When Stuart became a prime suspect and subject of investigation, he jumped off a bridge in Boston.
This is an extreme example or narcissism. Scott Pederson’s murder of his wife Laci would be another extreme example…
In comparison to these people, we may think we’re not self-centered and narcissistic at all, but as writers Christopher Lasch the author ofThe Culture of Narcissism and Robert Bellah co-author of the book Habits of the Heart have pointed out, self-absorption and narcissism is rampant throughout society.
Dr. Robert Bellah discovered through the vast research he and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford did on the middle class, that the overriding riding goals of the middle class were personal success and vivid personal feelings. They found from the institution of business people want personal success, out of the institution of marriage people want personal fulfillment, and out of the institution of religion people want personal development… the personal, the self has become the overriding focus for people.
The writers of the spiritual life point out, self-absorption kills the spiritual life.2x
Serving others can help get us out of ourselves in the best sense of that word…
As we come to the final message in this series on the book of Proverbs…. I want to us to consider the service… The book of Proverbs tells us the wise, integrated person lives a life of self-giving service to God and others…
So what does this path look like?
Serving others can help us get out of ourselves, but it also involves pain and sacrifice… it involves the way of the cross…
In Luke 9 Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Taking up our cross means that we choose to lay down our interest and die to a part of ourselves to serve God and others.”
Sometimes people will say I have cross to bear and then they go on to talk about a terrible boss or a rebellious child… or some sickness… and they tend describe some kind of involuntary suffering, i.e. suffering they didn’t choose.
When Jesus calls us to take up our cross, he talking about voluntary suffering.
Jesus engaged in voluntary suffering when he died on the cross for our sins.
Jesus said in John 10 18 No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
Paul engages in voluntary suffering when he proclaims in the Rome that Jesus, i.e. is Caesar, is Lord, Kurios… knowing that he would be imprisoned for that proclamation…
Most of us are not going to go to the cross literally…
Most of us like the apostle Paul will not imprisoned for proclaiming the Gospel.
But when we voluntarily choose to forgo our self interest for the sake of God and others in self-giving service we can participate in the way of the cross…
Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, in his book the Irresistible Revolution he says: people often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it's like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn't going to ask, of course. "Hey Mother, what's wrong with your feet?"
One day a sister said to us, "Have you noticed her feet?" We nodded, curious. She said: "Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet." Years of loving her neighbor as herself deformed her feet.
That’s dying to our self and taking up the cross,
A little closer to home… when my wife Sakiko and her sister, were young children, and their mother their presented them with two toys or two pieces of pastry… Sakiko let her always pick first… (Very unlike our family growing up, where one person cut the other picked or we’d had to draw straws to decided the picking order… it was survival of the fittest among the kids in our home!) When we honor others above ourselves in homes and communities…
That’s dying to self, that’s taking up the cross…
I have a friend who is Christian business leader… I noticed he was spending time each year going to the developing world to help with some well project… I asked him about it and he said I tithe my money, the first 10% goes to God, I also tithe my time… I know we are to tithe our income, but what about our time? I said the Bible is clear that the first tenth of income is to be offered to God, but it doesn’t specifically say anything about 10% of our time going to service… in one sense all of our is to be devoted in service to God, but if you can give 10% of your time to “overt Christian service” but I think it’s a great idea…
He was giving up vacation time to serve others…
That’s a kind of death to self, taking up the cross.
This past week people who volunteered for our ministry for the homeless, Out of the Cold, because of the extreme weather alert… Volunteers came and served here, some stayed over night, giving the warmth up the warmth of their homes for a night (our power was out this past week because of the weather) and gave up their sleep…
Dorothy Sayers says, Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
We are called to life a life of service, we are called to the way of the cross…
I don’t embody this perfect by a long shot, but I want to live with this way…
Some times people who care about me, who are not Christians will say with a really caring motive, I know of a career move you could make that would both reduce your stress level and increase your income. I try to explain that I can my life goal isn’t to increase my comfort level or my income, it is service… If you are follower of Christ that’s your call too. Your particular way you express may different from me, but you are called to life of service…
Dorothy Sayers says, “Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
Roy Hattersley an outspoken atheist who works as a columnist for the U.K. Guardian, laments "It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian."
Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.
Notable by their absence," he says, were atheists' associations and free thinking clubs—the sort of people who scoff at religious people.
According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."
Hattersley says secular people do not believe that drug addiction and prostitution offend God. But Christian people who do not agree with those risk-life lifestyles are the most willing to change dirty bandages, offer medical care, and give dry sleeping bag without a trace of impatience…
“Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
The wise righteous person serves God and it involves the way of the cross.
When we choose to serve God and others, there will be pain and sacrifice--the cross, but there will also be resurrection… a meeting of God.
Paul says: Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, we carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, that is a willingness to suffer and to even literally die in serving God, and so that God’s life may be revealed in our mortal bodies….
I’m now going tinvite people in our community through to now share some of their own experiences serving:
Deanna:
two summers ago - I accepted to go to camp w/ my family & work for a week as a cook in the kitchen. I was asked to work in the kitchen – after I agreed, I naturally began to focus on the “hard” part ahead of me. The intense cooking for 7 days straight, I am no “Martha Stewart”. Then along w/ the 5:30 am early mornings & the late night prep-work until 11 or 11:30 – wow, those who know me, understand I have a few sleep issues! Even to the point of having co-workers Personally, I knew this was going toJknock on my door to wake me one morning be a stretch – something unnatural!
So, as I have learned to do in many other situations, I gave my self over to God, believing I’m a part of something greater, something bigger then myself. I wanted God to use me & the gifts He had given me to work for His glory & purpose. I consciously, and repeatedly, prayed leading up to & during that week; sharing w/ my family & friends my desire to believe in the words, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In return, God used me that week - @ times, He pushed me harder – to sacrifice, to work, to serve, to be challenged & to give truly of my self. God filled me w/ a joyful Spirit & a willing attitude, something I had prayed for - and not once did I feel over worked or tired to the point I was wanting someone to look after me.
I left that week in awe of my God! B/c it was in those times, in the “tired times, “hard times”, when I had been brought closer to my Creator, having my faith grow stronger. And through Him, I also experienced times of tremendous excitement, satisfaction, joyfulness - which flourished my soul down to its core.
Steve:
Four years ago, I moved to this neighbourhood and, ever since, I have been profoundly disturbed at the growing number of homeless people that I see on my evening walks. When Tenth launched its Out of the Cold program, I volunteered to stay overnight to look over the homeless men and women who call the gym floor their home for one night of the week.
On a bitterly cold winter night, one of the guests asked for a wake up call at 5:30am. This is not uncommon, as some of our guests work for day labour agencies. In exchange, they receive minimum wage, no benefits and no job security. When I first learned of this, it shattered my stereotype of the homeless.
After waking the guest, I went back downstairs. When he came down, I invited him to sit on a couch and placed a space heater in front of him to keep him warm. I brought him some fruit for breakfast and a small bag lunch.
As I let him out the door, he turned around, shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said with utmost sincerity and gratitude three words that caught me off guard and moved me to tears. He said, "God bless you."
I later found out that he had had a bad church experience and thought all churches were the same. He had stopped going to church until he was touched by the heart of all the volunteers at Out of the Cold. He now attends Mosaic, a Tenth Avenue Church plant. He remains homeless, yet still praises and worships God. He has helped me draw closer to God, especially in the face of adversity.
I chose to serve our Lord, hoping to bless others. Instead, it is I who has been blessed.
Kirsten:
Since I was a child, I have always drawn happy faces by my name. Constantly nagging people to be joyful, to smile, to 'turn their frown upside down'. I have always known the presence of God.
Upon arriving to a crowded 'hospital' in Indonesia for the tsunami, I found myself surrounded by death. Our team created an intensive care unit for our sickest patients at our hospital, where I nursed them all day and all night, only to have them die in my arms. The ground was filled with corpses, the smell of death lingered. I needed to escape for a few moments, and I took a walk down what was left of the streets, coming across a bridge. I stopped to rest, only to find myself watching workers discover more dead bodies. I found myself overcome with the suffering, with exhaustion, with so little hope. I felt alone, consumed and overwhelmed with grief, I felt like God was absent, a feeling I had never truly experienced.
I turned and began to walk back to the hospital, exhausted and defeated, wondering how I would get through the next few weeks with such little hope. I looked up and found a little girl shyly pointing and smiling at me, her little brothers and sisters following. Timid and scared at first noticing my height and seeing my blond curly hair. They started laughing and I started crying, overwhelmed at their smiles. I bent over and a balloon fell out of my pocket. I blew it up for them, bright and yello with a cheesy smiley face on it. They smiled with joy, and I looked into their eyes and saw them as children of God. It was this simple moment that pushed me to go on, knowing that we are all children of God.
This is what compels me to be a servant. Seeing God in the eyes of humans, knowing He is there.
The paradox of the Christian life is that is that as we are willing “to die” in service that we experience the life of God.
The path of service involves the cross, but resurrection and new life, and enables us to bless the world
At the City Hall, hearings for our Out of the Cold ministry, our ministry for the homeless here, a number of people spoke who were in favor of the program and a number of people spoke who were in opposition to the program. People opposed to the program said things like the problem the homeless ministry at the church is that it is run mostly by volunteers, they’re not professionals, we need more than a band aid, what is needed more professionally trained, government workers…
As I sat there, I thought wait a minute… as far I know I faith-based volunteer program have higher have a significantly higher rate of success than secular government programs…
I didn’t have the figures at my finger tips, but I thought I need to talk to Chuck Colson about this when I see him next week…
Chuck Colson as some of you would know, was an aide to President Nixon and went to prison for his role in Watergate… Colson became a Christian and started a ministry for prisoners and their families called Prison Fellowship.
The following week I was in Boston with Chuck Colson to attend a board meeting.
It turned out that Chuck and I rode in the same car to one of our meetings.
I asked Chuck…”When it comes to prison recidivism rates (rate of prisoners being rearrested and/or imprisoned after release how do faith-based programmed compare to secular, government programs?)
He said the faith-based programs are dramatically more successful. The general recidivism rate in the United is about 67% person (within 5 years of a person’s release from prison). People who go through the prison fellowship program and graduate have 8% rate of recidivism.
Why are is Christian based volunteer program more effective than secular, government programs? Colson said the secular programs emphasize therapy… which means they identity a person’s problem, whereas a Christian program emphasizes transformation of the whole person.
This week I was reading a done by the University of Pennsylvania on prisoner reform program. The report pointed out that secular programs tend to not work in helping keep people out of prison, but to surprise of the researchers, the faith-based ones do. The reasons they work is that faith-based programs foster inner change people and emphasize the message “You must give something to society.” People come out of the Prison Fellowship program says, “I wasn’t following when I came God into the program, I have now received Jesus, I am not the person I used to be, I now realized I need to give back to society.”
I remember Chuck Colson (in another context) talking about a retired couple volunteering with Prison Fellowship in the Midwest. They had been corresponding with and visiting a prisoner for about 20 years. The prisoner was about to be released… and this retired couple told this prisoner, “When you get out, you come and live with us until you get a job and until you can afford a place of your own, we’re you’re family…”
I remember Chuck said, “I think that prisoner is going to make it”.
Government plays a very important role in people’s live, but it’s hard to imagine a government paid worker having a greater in the life on inmate that retired volunteer couple.
Never underestimate the power that servicing and loving other can have in a life.…
When we serve, we experience death, we experience the way of the cross, the power of the resurrection, and bring blessing the world.
Does this those patterns sound familiar?
It’s the way of Jesus. Jesus died on a cross, he rose again, he resurrected, and through that brought us the world’s greatest gift—forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God.
The atheist columnist Hattersly asked, “Can’t the Christian be lived without being a Christian?”
IF the Christian life were primarily an idea, a set of propositions, the answer would be yes. The Christian Gospel is not primarily an idea or proposition, but it’s a person, it is Jesus Christ.
The way to live a life of true Christian service is invite Jesus Christ, the one who died cross, resurrected and blessed the world like none other to come and live his life through you…
Go into the Lord’s Supper.
Benediction:
“Live a life so mysterious that the only explanation is the presence of a living, loving God.”
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio htm)
posted by Shigematsu at 12:27 PM
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