Sun, July 31, 2005 - In Mission For Others

Isaiah 55:1-5

Romans 9:1-5

Matthew 14:13-21

We don’t usually read the Psalm in the summer, but today’s psalm (Psalm 145:8-9, 15-22) is such a lovely proclamation of the Gospel that I think we should. So why don’t you all get out your bulletin inserts and read the psalm together with me:

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is loving to everyone
and his compassion is over all his works.
The Lord upholds all those who fall;
he lifts up those who are bowed down.
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

Now isn’t that lovely? The Lord is gracious, full of great kindness, slow to anger, loving to everyone, compassionate, and satisfying the needs of every living creature. That is such a proclamation of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, even though it came before him, that I could end this sermon right now.

But I can’t. You see, there’s a problem. And that problem comes when we receive this wonderful proclamation of the Gospel, when we hear how loved we are by God, and we do nothing. Now, let me say right now, before there’s any confusion - God’s love and grace come to us completely apart from whether we do something with it or not. God justifies us solely by God’s grace, and not on the basis of our response to the Gospel. So when I say that there’s a problem, I don’t mean that there’s a problem that’s going to prevent God from bestowing grace and forgiveness on us. Nothing can prevent God from doing that. But what I am saying is that when we receive that grace and do absolutely nothing with it, we’re causing problems.

You see, one of the reasons God shares all this grace with us is so that we can share it with others, and in doing so, spread it to the whole world. "For God so loved the world..." But when we sit back and do nothing with that grace, we’re hindering the whole process from happening. You see, Jesus Christ came to the people of Israel to embody the love and mercy of God in a physical way - through healing and feeding and forgiving. But Jesus isn’t walking around anymore. And so he’s left us to embody that love and mercy for others - through our physical actions, our words, our proclamation of God’s mercy and our claiming of that mercy for others. But if we don’t embody that Gospel for others, if we sit back and do nothing, God’s goal of proclaiming love and mercy to the whole world stops short with us.

Sadly, we let that happen all too often. In our Gospel story, we see the disciples very clearly sitting back and doing nothing about the amazing Gospel gift that Jesus has given them. Jesus has called the disciples, enriched and blessed their lives, healed their family, fed them, prayed for them, and when it comes time for them to embody that love for others, what do they do? They say to Jesus, "send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." For goodness’ sake - have they learned nothing from being with Jesus? Send them away? Let them get their own food? What happened to serving others, to loving others, to living your life for others? The disciples received the good news from Christ, there’s no doubt that they did - they were following him, after all. But they definitely stopped short of sharing that good news with other people.

And that’s always our temptation with the Gospel. To let it stop with us and not to share it with others. We become more interested in claiming the Gospel for ourselves and advancing our own righteousness than in proclaiming the Gospel and righteousness of God for and on behalf of others.

This happened at the National Convention last week in Winnipeg. Even though the convention theme was "In Mission For Others," we failed to act for others. Instead, as a convention, we pretty much acted in our own self-interest, seeking to uphold our own views of righteousness rather than claiming and proclaiming God’s righteousness for others. Now, you might think I’m referring to the whole vote on the issue of allowing each congregation to make their own decision about blessing committed same-sex relationships. And, in one sense, I am. The convention voted 54% against letting that happen, and only 45% in favour of letting that happen, and in my opinion, it was a clear case of the convention claiming God’s gospel for ourselves, who consider ourselves already righteous, and failing to embody that Gospel for others by denying God’s love and blessing to gays and lesbians because they are "unrighteous."

But that’s not the only thing I’m talking about. I’m also talking about the Convention not allowing the 12-delegate Youth Assembly to have a vote at the Convention. You see, at the beginning of each Convention, the youth assembly must be granted unanimous permission from the convention to have a vote at that particular gathering. And at this convention, a small number of people decided that the youth should not have a vote. Why? I’m not sure, although I suspect it may because they were afraid that the youth might be too radical in proclaiming the inclusiveness of the Gospel. In any case, rather than being living examples of the Gospel of Christ by extending full participation to the youth delegates, the Convention kept that Gospel to themselves. We did not act for others, but for ourselves.

But that’s not what Jesus taught us. Jesus didn’t teach us to be in mission for ourselves. Jesus didn’t embody the good news of love and forgiveness for us so that we could keep it for ourselves. Jesus did it so that we could share that message and its implications with the world. That’s why, when the disciples said to Jesus that the crowds should go find their own dinner, Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." We aren’t to send people elsewhere to experience the Gospel - we’re to do it here, where we are. And when the disciples complained that they didn’t have enough to share, Jesus gave them enough - more than enough. Jesus gave them so much that there were twelve full baskets left over - enough to fill the twelve tribes of Israel, and from there, the world.

Paul knew this, too - that the good news of Jesus Christ was for sharing, not for keeping to himself. Why else do you think he was in such anguish over his fellow Jews? Paul knew that he, the worst of sinners, was radically forgiven by the grace of God. He could have said, "Well, I’m saved, so who cares about anybody else? Why should I bother to stick my neck out for anyone else?" But he didn’t. He knew that God’s grace was meant for sharing, that it was meant for the salvation of the whole world, and so, at great risk to his life, he claimed the covenant of God for his Jewish brothers and sisters. And we’re to do the same, in our own context.

Now, I must say, that there were moments at the Convention when we did see this Gospel embodiment taking place. Like I said, the theme of the Convention, and the National Church’s theme for the next two years, is "In Mission for Others." And when the convention floor was challenged by the non-voting youth delegates to raise money for their youth project, Habitat for Humanity - Mission Possible, over $3000 was raised on the spot. And, later, a motion was made and pretty well overwhelmingly carried that "our church’s leaders, congregations and pastors... [reject] all words and actions hostile to gays and lesbians... and [take] steps to create a more welcoming place in this church for gays, lesbians, and their families." So, by the grace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are taking a few small steps towards being in mission for others and not ourselves. We are beginning to realize that the loaves and fishes Jesus gave us are meant for those around us, too, and we are learning how to share them.

The grace and forgiveness of God is not meant for just a small, select group of people. God means for it to be shared with the whole world, and like the disciples who were directed to share the food with the crowds, God means for us to be the ones to go out and share it, not just at National Convention, but in Synods, and in our congregations, and in the lives of those around each one of us. This sharing is about more than just telling people about what God has done through Christ; it’s about living the life of Christ for others so that they can see God through us. This is what the Son of God came to earth to do for us, embodying God’s love for us, not so that we would remain in mission for ourselves, but so that we would go out in mission for others.
One of my absolute favourite hymns is "We All Are One In Mission." And I want to end by singing the first two verses for you because I think it has a something to say about our mission for others. It’s #755 in the blue hymnal if you want to read along:

We all are one in mission; we all are one in call,
our varied gifts united by Christ, the Lord of all.
A single great commission compels us from above
to plan and work together that all may know Christ’s love.

We all are called to service, to witness in God’s name.
Our ministries are diff’rent; our purpose is the same:
to touch the lives of others with God’s surprising grace,
so ev’ry folk and nation may feel God’s warm embrace.

May God grant us the power to be in mission for others. Thanks be to God. Amen.