The Messenger - November 25, 2009

Do you know that You've been Sent?

"Go forth into all the world," Jesus said, "making disciples of every nation." (Matt. 28:19)
Many people think that this "great commission" applies primarily to missionaries who travel overseas, but very few of Jesus' disciples actually traveled overseas. Jesus began his own ministry very close to home, and Luke tells us that he expected his disciples to do much the same: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Three of the four destinations in that list were local.

But what does it mean to be sent into ministry at the warehouse where you work, the classroom where you teach, or the business that you help to run? Richard Halverson, the former chaplain of the US Senate (and former Pastor at Hollywood Pres) used to explain it with these words (that became his weekly benediction):

Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. He has a purpose in your being there. Christ who dwells in you has something that He wants to do through you where you are. Believe this, and go in His grace and love and power.

When asked about these words, Halverson was happy to explain that all of life is sacred--or, at least, all of life can be sacred when we approach it with the proper attitude. If something unfortunate happens at work, we can experience it as a wretched irritation. Or, we can seize it as a chance to build character and demonstrate God's mercy and God's grace. Is a customer screaming at you? The normal response is to shout back. But the sacred response is to pray about his level of frustration and ease it in some way. Is an acquaintance in the workplace clearly struggling in some way? The normal response is just to ignore it and focus on your task alone. But the sacred response may be to listen to that person and intercede for her in prayer.
Is a boss or co-worker making unreasonable demands--perhaps dumping his workload onto you? The strong response is to "blow him off" (and feel a bit uncertain later on). The weak response is to "cave in" (and feel a bit resentful later on). But the sacred response is to help your co-worker both accept responsibility and fulfill it. And that's exactly what Jesus did with his disciples. (cff. Mark 6:30-44. See also Mark 9: 17-41)

Those of us who are employed have many opportunities to reveal God's love and grace. But those of us who are retired have even more. That's because we have more time to volunteer for service within and beyond the church. If you wish to do so, you have time to visit the shut-ins, time to feed the hungry, and time to help your neighbors, too. But even when we aren't engaged in "service" projects, we can reveal God's love and grace or we can obscure it simply by the way we treat checkers at the grocery, waiters at the restaurant, or acquaintances that we happen to pass by. Especially in December, many harried customers are "short" with those who serve them, and clerks can be quite "short" as well. But we don't have to act that way.

In sum, every chance encounter with some human being can be sacred if you choose to believe God has a purpose in it. And that choice makes all the difference in how we experence this world. No matter where you are, God put you there. So, as Richard Halverson enjoined, "believe this, and go in His grace and love and power."

---

Sermons on the web! A trial run of creating MP3 versions of Pastor Neal's sermons has begun, so you can download and listen to ones you missed (or listen to again, if perhaps your attention was distracted). So far we have converted all the ones from this Fall, and we plan to add more periodically. If you have comments or suggestions, please talk with Keith Headley or Erik Larson. You can download them from here.