Values Sermon
What’s your passion in life? I mean what gets you really excited? Everybody has something which drives them in their lives. It could be your kids, your work, a hobby, a cause, a mission or even a ministry. What drives us is often reflected in how we spend our time, our money and our efforts and that reflects our values. The same is true of churches. Every church is driven by something. There is a guiding force, a directing conviction or a consuming passion behind everything that happens in a church. It may be unspoken or even unknown to many people in the church. Most likely, it’s never been voted on. But it’s there, influencing every aspect of a church’s life. It’s what the church values the most.
Last week, we discussed God’s unique vision for this church. Say it with me: “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus.” We asked you to consider some questions. How are you connecting people to Jesus? Are you developing new relationships and leading others to Christ? Are your attitude, actions and your life like Jesus’? If not, why? Where do you need to grow? Are you devoted to Jesus above everything and everyone else? What proof is there? How well do you know Jesus’ teachings and are you living them out? Are you making, that is, teaching, mentoring and training) disciples? God’s unique vision for a church is like the sail of the ship, catching God’s wind or spirit and moving it forward. But every boat must also have a rudder helping to guide the direction of the ship. Values are passions that rudder or direct a ship. Today, we’re going to look at the five guiding values of our church.
First is living mission. Living Mission is valued by us because we exist to fulfill God’s vision and purpose for our life together. God’s unique vision for this church is at the heart of everything we say and do. That means we make every decision based on God’s vision and one question: How will this help us accomplish God’s vision? This is the reason we have changed so many things in the last 7 years, all to help us accomplish our mission. This we know: what we did yesterday will not get us to where we need to go tomorrow. For us to do accomplish God’s vision, every part of the church needs to be aligned with God’s vision: every ministry, every small group, every leader and every staff member is actively working to fulfill God’s vision. Alignment, in many respects, is like a car. For it to run at peak performance, all of the engine’s cylinders must be firing together. If one begins to misfire, it creates resistance and actually begins to diminish effectiveness. Every ministry must know how and what they are contributing to the pursuit of God’s vision for Gretna UMC. When everyone in the church is working together, we become an unstoppable force. With that in mind, we also seek to budget on purpose. Every dollar spent needs to contribute to fulfilling the mission of the church and everything we do on our calendar must be brought in line with our purpose. We also need to be intentional about investing the limited financial and people resources in God’s vision. We cannot measure forward progress and our effectiveness in accomplishing God’s unique vision for our church unless we evaluate everything based on our vision. God’s vision is the standard by which we evaluate everything we do. Living out the vision is our reason to be. It’s why we exits and the reason it’s our first value.
Our second value is Extending Love because God first extended his love to us in Jesus Christ. In John 13, Jesus gives his last instructions to the disciples. “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples when they see the love you have for each other.” Jesus uses the Greek word, ’Agape’ which we translate as love and is best defined as unconditional, selfless, sacrificial love. This is the love Jesus showed on the cross by dying for our sins. It is the love which Jesus leaves as an example for us and the love God wants us to have for others. Most people love only when they are loved or when it benefits them, meets their needs or is convenient. But Jesus calls us to love unconditionally, selflessly and sacrificially, which often starts with denying ourselves. We are to do this in response to the love we have received in Jesus. We have been loved so that we can love others. “In the same way I loved you, love one another.” The original Greek says, “I have loved you in order that you might love one another.” It is a cause and effect dynamic. Because we are loved unconditionally, we can love others unconditionally. Jesus’ love for us is why we can love one another, the example of how we are to love and the source upon which we should draw to love others. How we love is our greatest witness. “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples, when they see the love you have for each other.” When people see us loving unconditionally and sacrificially, they will say: “Wow! Look at how they love one another! I want to be loved like that. I want to be a part of something like that.” They will not only be attracted to life in Christ but also life in the body of Christ.
Our third value is deepening faith because it enables us to give more of ourselves to Jesus. When we come to faith, we begin the lifelong process of spiritual growth and transformation called sanctification which is simply the process of becoming just like Christ. Yes, that’s the goal: to be just like Christ. Paul described this process when he said, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" Philippians 1:6. You see, God accepts us as we are but calls us to become like him. Spiritual growth is so important that God commands us to mature spiritually. That’s why the Apostle Peter ended his letters with this exhortation: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18 And it’s why one of our core values is deepening faith. No matter where you are on the spiritual journey: a child in the faith, a teenager or an adult, God calls us to spiritual growth into maturity. If you’re not growing, then you’re dying. So let me ask you a question: how are you growing in your faith? What are you doing intentionally to grow in your faith? You and only you are responsible for your own spiritual growth. Too often we have looked to the church to grow us spiritually. It’s up to the church to offer the programs, the teaching and ministries which feed me and grow me. We see this attitude when people say about their last church, “I just wasn’t being fed there.” What if the church asked of each of you: “What are you contributing to the life of the church through your spiritual growth? How are you feeding others and growing them spiritually?” Your spiritual growth is critical to accomplishing our vision. If you grow spiritually, the church will grow too. But if your don’t, then neither will the church. The growth of this church is dependent on your spiritual growth.
What are the keys to spiritual growth? Spiritual growth starts first through the Means of Grace: daily prayer and Scripture reading, weekly worship and communion, participating in a small group Bible study and finally, fasting. But all of that is self-serving if we don’t take the next step of spiritual growth, doing Works of Mercy. Works of Mercy are serving those in need: the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned, the elderly, the hurting, anyone who is in need of God’s love and grace. Works of Mercy are the fruit of the Means of Grace. So how have you grown in your faith in the last year? What progress has there been in your spiritual journey? And are you staying the same place spiritually or moving on to maturity?
Our fourth value is building family because the faith is lived out in relationship to one another. The church is meant to be a family. A family is where love and support is received. Thus, the church is our God-given support system. As such, it is intended to meet some crucial needs in our lives, the need for relationship and connection. The church is essential to our spiritual well-being and our growth. You cannot make this journey of faith alone. We need each other and God expects us to be there for one another. God has ordained that we play a vital part in each other’s faith. For that reason we are commanded in Hebrews 10:25 not to, “…give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…” The community of faith is absolutely crucial to our spiritual well-being, as well as our emotional and physical well-being. When we face the inevitable trials, troubles and tragedies of life, God provides the support, strength, encouragement andvpower through the community of believers.
This the place we receive guidance, direction and at times, even correction. “None of us is as smart as all of us!” God yearns to guide us safely through our earthly pilgrimage, sparing us many wrong turns and harmful paths and he has chosen to do it through the church. It is through the church that “the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” Ephesians 3:10 We receive His wisdom for the journey when we study His Word and pray together. We are guided to make right choices and good decisions, choose His paths and resist the ways of the world. Being a part of community of faith is not talking just attending worship. Most conversations before and after worship barely scratch the surface. When we speak of connections and community, we’re talking about being in a small group Bible study, where you share life together, pray together, grow in the faith together and serve together.
Our fifth value is influencing communities. If this church closed tomorrow, would anybody in our community care? Would the community be better or worse off? Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world. Salt influences the flavor of everything it touches and light changes every bit of darkness it shine into. That light we are to reflect is the light of Christ as it shines into the darkness of our world. Salt and light by their very nature influence everything around it. Likewise, this church should be a different place because we are here. Jesus is challenging us to make an intentional and concerted effort to influence our community and the people who live in it and need to know Him. We’re not called just to be here. To transform the world, you have to have proximity. We’re called to be IN the community developing relationships, touching lives, ministering to needs and building the kingdom of God. We can no longer expect people to come to us. We have to go to them! Jesus wants you to be light and salt in every aspect of your life: in your workplace, in the neighborhood, among your friends and especially in your home.
How? By being intentional about living your faith and ministering to those who are hurting and in need around you. And you can do that in everything you are already involved in. That’s what it means to influence your oikos. But it also means you need to be intentional about going beyond your comfort zone, outside your normal paths and groups. Perhaps it’s to the apartments down the street for outreach or to feed the homeless or to join our new ministry to the Hispanics here on the WestBank. It’s about meeting new people and developing relationship with them. The opportunities are all around us. We just have to go out into the community, our neighborhoods and our workplaces, to be salt and light. The church, you and I, can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines. We can’t just be good citizens and bystanders of this world and our city. We must connect and we must influence, otherwise the life, death and resurrection of Christ is all for naught. He came to change the world and if we don’t change our world with his love and grace by being salt and light, then it’s all for nothing.
What can you do to touch and transform the people and world around you? Begin with your oikos, the 10-15 people God has strategically placed in your life, by serving them and being salt and light in their life. Alone, we cannot make a difference but together, we can extend God’s love into the world, grow in our faith to maturity so we might grow others, build and become a part of family, a small group, influence our oikos, our city the world for Jesus Christ and fulfill God’s vision for our life together of “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus.” Amen
