An Unaccepted Message Series

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Threats against his life did not stop Jeremiah from continuing on in his ministry. His ministry could have been called a failure because few people responded to it and it did not help Judah avert defeat at the hands of the Babylonians. For Jeremiah, though, failure would have been not being faithful and obedient.

Certainly Jesus continued in his ministry even when told by the religious authorities not to. Throughout his ministry, he kept inviting the people to change. In the gospel lesson for today we see Jesus inviting the disciples to turn from their ideas of powerful leaders to the vision of servant leaders.

Sharing our faith and inviting people to a new life in Christ will involve many “No’s.” We are still called in the middle of all of the “No’s,” to be faithfully obedient to our calling and ministry. One success guru has said that the only failure is when we do not learn and do not pick ourselves up and try again.

Jesus’ commands to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbor as ourselves gives us tremendous freedom to try new ways of loving. I am challenged by a story of a Christian Chinese farmer. He farmed on a terrace, and the neighbor below him would always knock down the dam between their properties and steal the Christian’s water. The Christian cried out to the Lord and asked the Lord to intervene and make the neighbor stop stealing his water. After asking his neighbor politely to stop, the Christian felt that involving the authorities would put a wedge between he and his neighbor and he would not be able to witness to his unsaved neighbor. God answered the farmer’s prayers in a way that was unexpected. God told the farmer to first water his neighbor’s fields and then to water his own. His neighbor would then stop knocking down the dam. The farmer grudgingly did as directed. After a few days, his neighbor was so astounded by his actions of love that he received Christ as his Lord and Savior.

CONCLUSION

For thousands of years the Church and its people has found ways to share God’s love and grace with others in the midst of opposition. Facing severe persecution the early church found a way to care for the sick and dying. Faced with the casualties of the Industrial Revolution the church, in the shape of the Salvation Army, found ways to minister to the needs of the destitute. The church in the form of Lutheran World Relief and other agencies has discovered ways to bring aid to those in war torn parts of the world.

Of course, the real area of ministry is in each of our individual backyards. That’s where people are in need, whose need can be only met by us—because there is no one else. So, we open ourselves to change and invite others to experience that same change through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen