#2 in the My Favorite Disciplines
Mundane Ministry / Seismic Significance
Luke 9:45-48
CHCC: December 14, 2008
INTRODUCTION:
Last week I talked about one of my Favorite Disciplines – Celebration. In our Pueblo Group we studied a book by John Ortberg about Spiritual Disciplines --- and Celebration was one that caught me by surprise --- because I’d never thought of Celebrating as a discipline.
There were other Disciplines that caught me by surprise. The three I want to talk about today are surprising because they seem so MUNDANE. In fact it could be called the MINISTRY OF THE MUNDANE. Most people don’t think of these things are the least bit important … but it turns out that God has a different Rating System.
Look at what Jesus said in Luke chapter 9: An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest." Luke 9:45-48
1. Discipline of Mundane Service
If you want to be the GREATEST, then Serve the “leastest!” The disciples probably considered taking notice of children to be way beneath their status. After all, they were MEN. And they were the CHOSEN 12. Child care was far too mundane for men in such important positions! But Jesus told them, “You want to be great? They make this little child feel welcome.”
If Jesus were talking to us this morning, he might say, “Do you want to do something really important? Sign up to help take care of the Pre-Schoolers.” (And you can bet Ronnie would be right beside Him with a sign-up list ready for you!) We tend to think of working with the children as kind of a menial job, but in God’s eyes, that kind of service is the Greatest of all.
Taking care of children --- whether in the church or school or at home --- is not just for THEIR sake, it’s for YOUR sake. The kind of service you give to children is probably the world’s most powerful tool for spiritual maturity. I felt like I really grew up when I started raising 2 daughters.. And I’ve seen the same kind of maturing in my daughter’s lives as they’ve had their own children.
Here’s what John Ortberg said, “This kind of servanthood can even be fun. … I remember that in the early days of parenthood, Nancy would tell me that few things created within her a greater feeling of closeness to me than when I did acts of service. She said that my vacuuming the carpet felt like an act of valuing her. When I cleaned the garage, she felt a strong sense of oneness and connectedness between us. She said that when she saw me bathing our kids she felt an attraction to me.” (John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pp. 118-119)
So keep that in mind, guys. If you just pitch in with housework and childcare, your wife might give your points for being romantic!
Jesus used a child as His example, but the general principle is – be kind and helpful to the least important people you may meet. This might mean giving help to someone who is sick or elderly or homeless.
When Jesus took that little child in his arms, he was saying, in effect, “Here’s what will make you GREAT in God’s eyes. Give yourself to those who can’t give you status or clout. Just help people: anyone you can, any time you can, anywhere you can.”
Opportunities for small acts of service come our way hundreds of times every single day. Someone needs help getting a door opened. Someone at work asks you to do them a favor. You see a mess than needs cleaning … or trash that needs to be emptied. You come across a car stalled on the side of the road.
These Small acts of Service don’t seem heroic or impressive. It’s just “random acts of kindness” given every time you have the opportunity to help someone. If we develop the Discipline of Mundane Service, we can fill each and every day with thousands of small, miniscule, mundane … seemingly random … acts of kindness.
These small acts of service won’t show up on our “to do” list. Opportunities for Mundane Service have a way of surprising us … sometimes in our busiest moments --- which means we have to be willing to be interrupted.
I had one such unscheduled event a while back when a man came to my office asking if he could do some work in order to earn enough gas money to drive back to Austin. We get a lot of requests like that at the church, but for some reason that day … his plight touched me. And when I listened to his story I thought it just might be genuine.
It was too involved to share here, but he had left his wife and kids. After rethinking his decision he wanted to go back home and try to make things work. I spent a couple of hours talking to him, taking him to lunch, and then found some work he could do for me so I could buy him some gas. I finally prayed with him and sent him on his way.
I have no way of knowing if the story he told was true … and spending my afternoon with him certainly wasn’t on my agenda --- but I believe it was on God’s “to do” list for me that day. I believe the small service I did for him made a difference … and I left the experience encouraged by his words. But I could have missed the chance if I hadn’t been willing to have my day interrupted.
Of course, you can’t let everything that comes along interrupt you … or you won’t get your own work done! It takes discernment and wisdom to know when to drop everything else so you can serve the least of these.
The next Small Discipline is one you may have never thought about. It’s what Detrich Bonhoeffer called “the ministry of holding one’s tongue.” He said, “It must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him.”
2. Discipline of Holding your Tongue
In America we put so much emphasis on “freedom of speech” that we seem to think we have a DUTY to speak up any time we can think of something to say. But sometimes the “ministry of holding your tongue” can be your greatest contribution. Here’s how Solomon put it in Proverbs17:28 Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.
John Ortberg tells about a staff meeting where they were discussing a relatively minor decision. He said, “I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, gesturing animatedly, while a voice that sounded suspiciously like mine kept rising higher and higher. I realized that I wasn’t all that concerned about this decision; instead I had locked myself into a contest to see whose decision was going to prevail.” (p.123, The Life you always wanted)
We’ve all done that. We talk to make sure everyone knows how smart we are. We tell a story in a way that makes us look good and shows how clever we are. We correct someone to show that we know more than they do. We talk to fill the silence so we can seem interesting and entertaining. Or we talk to just be talking.
I came across this quote from Louis Vermeil: The prime purpose of eloquence is to keep other people from talking.
Of course, there IS a time to speak up, but it takes true humility to know when to speak up and when to “shut up.” Staying quiet requires true humility. It means we really believe God can take care of business without us having to put in our two-cents worth.
There’s a story told about Pope John XXIII about a time when a member of the curia kept nagging him to speak out on various issues. On issue after issue, he told the Pope that the church and world depended on his input to prevent chaos and collapse. Finally Pope John pulled this Adviser aside and confessed that he was sometimes tempted to live as though the fate of the world rested on him. He was helped, he said, by an Angel … who would sometimes appear by the side of his bed and say, “Hey, there, Johnny boy, don’t take yourself so seriously!”
You don’t have to be the Pope to get a sort of “messiah complex” … where you think it’s all up to you. If you don’t say it, it won’t get said. If you don’t do it, it won’t get done. If you don’t run it, it won’t get run. Here’s God’s great joke about the messiah complex: Every human being who has ever lived has suffered from it --- except one. And He WAS the Messiah!
Jesus is the perfect example of one who knew when to speak and when to be silent. One of the most powerful moments in His life was when he stood accused before Pilate. Mark 15 says, Then Pilate questioned Him again, "Are You not answering anything? Look how many things they are accusing You of!" But Jesus still did not answer anything, so Pilate was amazed. Mark 15:4-5
The holy silence of Jesus shouted his complete innocence and proclaimed His absolute willingness to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
The last Surprising Discipline is one that John Ortberg calls the Discipline of Appropriate Smallness.
3. Discipline of Appropriate Smallness
We won’t be able to serve the least of these if we are secretly thinking we’re better than they are. In Philippians 2:3 Paul wrote: Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
John Ortberg tells about a prayer group he attended with about 10 people in it. He said at the first meeting, he started sizing up the folks there with thoughts like: this one’s traditional, that one’s troubled, this one’s closed off, that one’s a know-it all type, and there’s a high-functioning, really intelligent type that I’ll probably get along with …
We all tend to do that. We size each other up … often with very little information to go on … so we can decide who is … and who is NOT … up to our standards.
But Ortberg said that the leader of that prayer group gave them some interesting instructions. She said, “As we have these meetings, I want you to set aside any tendencies you might have to evaluate the other people and their comments. Just allow God to speak to you through them.” (p.124-125 – paraphrased)
We need to remember that the differences between us … differences in appearance or intellect or understanding or personality … those differences are infinitesimal when we look at ourselves from God’s vantage point.
Compared to God we are all just fleas anyway, so how can one flea compare his tiny self to any other flea … as if there were a speck of difference between any of them! Our differences are so miniscule that there is no reason to assume that God can not do His greatest works through even the least of these.
How many of you remember Olen Selover? (raise hands) Olen was a loyal member of our Church for many years until his death. He was a Viet Nam vet who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. But I heard my finest testimony on tithing from this man. Olen would often show up at the church in the middle of a week with an envelope full of cash.
He explained to me that when ever his disability check showed up at the post office, he immediately cashed it and brought 10% of the cash to church to give as his tithe. He said he wanted to give to God before he paid any bills, or bought any food or medicine for himself. He said he did that because he was thankful for all the blessings God had given him … and he wanted to show his gratitude in the best way he could.
His testimony blew me away.
God had a lot to teach me through the lips of this man that a lot of people might cast aside as one of the least of these.
CONCLUSION:
The secret of Greatness is found in what we say, do, and think in the most Mundane Moments …
* When life interrupts our well-planned days and shoots a huge hole in our agenda.
* When we hold our tongues even though we are so full of brilliant things to say.
* When we make time to serve “the least of these” … to bless them and to let them bless us.
Have you ever noticed that people tend to identify churches by someone in the forefront. In San Antonio, people talk about John Hagee’s church or Max Lucado’s church. I’ve been here long enough that some people might refer to CHCC as Ed Skidmore’s church. But … after looking at what Jesus said in Luke 9 you have to wonder how Jesus would identify our church.
Maybe He would say, “Oh, yeah, CHCC – that’s the church where Julie Morgan and Sumi Roach welcome little ones in my name in the nursery every Sunday.”
or “…that’s the church where Rhonda Sayer leads children’s music every year at VBS”
or “…that’s the church where Judee Johnson and Linda Cote serve coffee and donuts so everyone can feel welcome in my house.”
or “…that’s the church where George and Sandy Shaw have ministered to the elderly at Blanco Villa Nursing Home every Sunday for 30+ years.”
The Ministry of the Mundane is one I consider to be quite meaningful … not because it’s EASY, but because it is surprising … and often overlooked. These are the small acts of service that can result in seismic shifts in the lives of people around us. These are the Mundane Disciplines that Jesus said are the key to greatness.
