Sermon 1/19/14
Philippians 3:12-16
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Disciples:
Purpose
Today we are starting a new sermon series called: Seven
Habits of Highly Effective Disciples. Last week we celebrated a renewal of our
baptismal covenant, as we were reminded of God’s promises to us in our baptism,
and we also reaffirmed our vows – vows perhaps someone else took for us once,
on our behalf, before we could even remember, or vows we took for ourselves –
maybe when you were a teen or maybe as an adult when you reached some significant
point of decision in your faith journey. As we reaffirmed our baptismal
covenant, we said these words: As members
of the body of Christ and in this congregation of The United Methodist Church,
we will faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers,
our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, that in everything God
may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
For the next
several weeks, we’re going to examine each one of those commitments, Prayers,
presence, gifts, service, and witness. But today we begin with a broader
question, with the main question in fact: purpose. Then, after we look at each
of the commitments individually, we’ll ask ourselves what it means for us, for
our congregation, because of our
purpose, and because of all those things we’ve considered, and so we’ll talk
about commitment, and ask ourselves what commitments we’re ready to make.
As many of you know I spent this past week working on my
Doctor of Ministry research, writing my first chapter in my project. The first
chapter is just the Introduction and Rationale. It doesn’t sound very exciting,
but it sets the tone for the work. In the chapter, explain why I chose my
research focus and what I think I will learn from my research both personally
and professionally, discuss any biases I bring to the project and define any
major terms I plan on using. My research is primarily related to the concepts
of charity and justice, for example, so I had to define what I mean by those terms. I also had to
define what I mean by mission. Do I mean
mission like a mission statement? Like missionaries who work to announce the
good news? Like a mission trip where people help build a house? Like our
mission committee where we talk about what service projects we want to do? So I
explained that in my paper, mission would refer to purpose. When I talk about mission in my project, I’m talking about
the purpose of our lives and the purpose of the church. You’ve heard us
talk about the denomination’s mission statement, our purpose statement: to make
disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And back in
October, I shared with you my understanding of that mission: Our mission is to keep
announcing the same good news Jesus announced: of God’s kingdom, as we also
keep working to change our lives so that our values are God’s values. The
mission of the church is working to invite others to come alongside us as
together, following Jesus, we reorder our lives so that what’s most important
to God is also most important to us.
But the
most important part of Chapter 1 is that I have to state my research question
and my thesis. What question am I asking, and what is the answer I’m going to
try to prove in my paper? Any of you have written a paper will remember being
taught that you must have a thesis statement that you can prove. And you have
to state your thesis right up front, as soon as possible: what’s your purpose
for writing the paper? What’s it all about? In my draft project proposal, my
advisor said my proposal read too much like a sermon – occupational hazard –
and that I needed to get to my thesis sooner. Right away. As I write each
chapter in the weeks ahead, everything I write must point back to my thesis.
The instructions for the paper are clear – I must constantly loop back to my
thesis, and my chapters have to support that my thesis is on target. Everything
else I write, no matter how long, how many words, is just a kind of evidence
for what I say on the very first page. Like a mission statement, my paper must
have a purpose, a thesis, and everything else hinges on that.
Today we read a
text from Philippians, a letter written by the apostle Paul to Christians
living in what was a wealthy city in the northern part of Greece, written while
he was imprisoned under house arrest in Rome or Ephesus. In our passage for
today, Paul has just explained that he’s seeking to know Christ and the power
of his resurrection by sharing in Christ’s suffering and become like Christ in
death. Paul reasons that you can’t claim the resurrection of Christ unless you’re
also willing to take up the cross with Christ. That’s the goal Paul is talking
about when our text begins: he is pressing on toward this goal, and he seeks it
because he wants to know Christ, even as Christ knows him. “But this one thing
I do,” he says, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the call of God in Christ
Jesus.”
Listen,
I’ll admit to you that sometimes the apostle Paul drives me a little crazy. He
tends to be a little arrogant, a little boastful. In fact, earlier in this very
chapter, Paul says something like: “I’m not gonna boast about my spiritual
pedigree, although if anyone had the right to boast, it would certainly be me
with the great background I have – but I’m totally not boasting about it.” That’s
the Beth paraphrase right there. Paul gets a little full of himself sometimes,
and I find myself rolling my eyes. But Paul, I can’t argue, from the moment he
becomes a follower of Jesus, from that moment on Paul is incredibly clear about
his life’s purpose, and he was clear
about how what he thought was God’s
purpose in the world. And then, he was clear about what that meant for how he needed to respond, to act, in
light of his purpose. And then, he did it. He carried out his purpose with intense
devotion and drive and commitment even when it meant imprisonment and eventual
death. He was passionate about making sure as many people as possible knew about
Jesus and he worked fervently to remove the barriers that others were trying to
put up that would keep people from committing to a life of discipleship. Paul
had a thesis statement for his life, and he spent the rest of it supporting
that thesis. He knew his purpose, and he lived his live on purpose. I admire
that a great deal. I aspire to be so clear and directed.
I wonder if we are as clear as Paul. Do we think we understand
God’s purpose? Do we know our life’s purpose? What is your purpose in life? And then, if we know our purpose, how are we responding,
living our lives, in light of that, and in light of God’s purpose for us?
Sometimes we talk about doing things “on purpose” or “on accident.” My mother
likes to talk about meeting with her life insurance agent when she was still
working as a nurse. The agent talked to her about an “accidental death” policy.
She joked, “Well, if I die, it sure won’t be on purpose!” He didn’t seem to
think it was very funny! When we do something on purpose, we claim responsibility for it. If we say we did
something “on accident,” often we’re trying to let folks know that we aren’t
responsible for whatever happened. Sometimes, though, I worry that we live our
whole lives in sort of an “on accident” mode, never being intentional enough to
claim responsibility for how are lives are turning out. We say we have a direction
or purpose or set of beliefs that guide our lives, but we don’t state our
thesis very boldly, or our life’s supporting paragraphs never seem to loop back
to that these statement, or worse, our supporting paragraphs disprove our thesis, showing that
whatever we claimed as our purpose was just empty words. We wander through life
a bit accidentally, hoping that we’ll also accidentally end up following Jesus.
It doesn’t sound like a very good plan, does it? That model wouldn’t make for a
very successful research paper, I’m sure, and it doesn’t really sound like
Paul, who says, “But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize
of the call of God in Christ Jesus.
What is your goal? What is your purpose? And how can you
expect to reach the prize without aiming your life purposefully in that
direction? I have homework for you this week – and that’s to think about what your purpose statement is. What’s your mission statement? What’s the
reason your life matters? I know – that’s a pretty big assignment, the meaning
of life and all, and I don’t expect your final
answer. Just think of it like a first draft, that you’ll get to revise and
revise. The purpose of Elizabeth Quick is to – what? I encourage you to write
down what you come up with and carry it with you through the course of this
sermon focus of ours. It will be your thesis statement, of sorts, and like with
any good essay, we’ll make sure that the supporting paragraphs of prayer and
presence and gifts and service and witness that we write together over the next
weeks support our purpose. But we have to start with our thesis. What’s your
purpose? Your mission statement? If you’re feeling bold, I’d like you to share
it with us – the rest of the congregation. Make a copy on a notecard or send it
to me via email or facebook – get it to us somehow. You don’t have to put your
name on the copy you share if you don’t want to. But I’d really love it if you’d
share it with us. Here’s my working thesis: I’m Elizabeth Quick and my purpose
is to help announce, in word and in deed, the good news: God’s reign is here,
and God is turning things upside down, so make God’s values your values, and
follow in the way of Jesus. That’s my purpose. In the weeks ahead, I want to
get very specific about whether the supporting paragraphs of my life really
hold up my thesis. Can I prove that my thesis true by the way I’m living life? Can
you?
“But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize
of the call of God in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
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