Children’s Time (Lead-in to sermon)
• This Little Light of Mine
• In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
• God is happiest when the lost is found.
• Our light leads people to Jesus.
Sermon
Living in a strange world
• We’re not children anymore.
• Daytime TV
• Politics
• Science
• Our response
– Wouldn’t you just like to run away?
– Ghetto—an environment of isolation
– Sanctuary—a place of safety
– Oasis—life-giving refuge. In the desert of ideas and the wilderness of morals Jesus calls us to be the light of the world.
o If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. (John 7:37)
o …whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)
o Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:37-38)
– We are the light of the world.
o We cannot be a light under a basket.
o A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
o Salt that becomes saltless is worthless.
• Our irrelevance (Cf. man/woman on the street interviews)
– By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)
– Not by our traditions, our instruments, our worship style, our denomination.
– For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35)
– So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. (Matthew 25:25) Response: You wicked, lazy servant!
Bearing fruit
• Vast variety
• What fruit does God want us to bear? Of all this fruit which is most important to God? Focused fruit.
• God’s favorite fruit—when people come to him.
– Go and make disciples
– You will be my witnesses
– Fruit is about reproduction.
– What is the state of people without Christ?
o Without forgiveness we are without hope. (Rom. 3:23; 6:23)
o There is no forgiveness without faith in Christ.
o Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
o This is the big deal about Jesus.
o Our family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow students are living in the very real danger of spending forever without God. Think what it would be like with God in your life now.
– I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7)
– Everything we do as a church should have this as its highest priority.
– Too often we substitute our fruit for God’s fruit.
– This is not about us.
• Five ministry teams: Discipleship, Ministry, Mission, Management and Worship
– We grow primarily to bear fruit.
– We minister to each other primarily to bear fruit.
– We evangelize and serve primarily to bear fruit.
– We worship primarily to bear fruit.
– We manage our personnel and physical plant primarily to bear fruit.
– How can what I do, what Second Presbyterian does, bear this fruit?
How to bear fruit
• Remain in Christ
• Understand our mission.
– The imagery of slavery.
– It’s hard for us to appreciate because we don’t know what it’s like.
o A wide range of estimates exists on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery, both internal and transnational. The International Labor Organization estimates 12.3 million people are in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude at any given time; other estimates range from 4 million to 27 million.” --Source: Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2006, Department of State, United States of America.
o While traditional chattel slavery is still widespread in such Saharan nations as Niger, Mauritania, Chad, and Sudan, it is immensely overshadowed by what modern antislavery groups describe as “new forms” of slavery–the men, women and children who are physically forced to work, often under the guise of meaningless contracts, in sweatshops or in building roads and pipelines for multinational corporations. Along with the exploitive use of indebtedness as an excuse for forced labor, there is also an enormous international traffic, especially in eastern Europe and south Asia in . . . girls or young women who have volunteered for decent-sounding jobs, only to find themselves coerced into prostitution…
o Stories
James—an abducted child kept as a slave in the Lord’s Resistance Army, James was forced to brutally kill his own brother who had been abducted with him. He was rescued from captivity, but demonstrates the fragile psyche of a child victim forced to kill or be killed.
Nagaraj—the hope of a life of freedom was stronger than the threats and abuses he and others endured in the brick kiln. The worst part, he says, was seeing his children there, getting sick from excessive work in the searing heat, knowing that they could never go to school and would grow up to become another’s property. Nagaraj himself was a slave since the age of 12.
o Statistics
126 Million: Estimated number of children who work in the worst forms of child labor - one in every twelve of the world’s five to seventeen year olds.
300,000: Estimated number of child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.
– These are the symptoms of sin—a spiritual condition with terrible effects. To be without Christ is to be a slave. What plays out in the physical finds its source in the spiritual. Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. (John 8:34)
– What are we doing about either?
– Amazing Grace—the story of John Newton
o Calling himself a "wretch" who was lost and blind, John Newton recalled leaving school at the age of 11 to begin life as a rough, debauched seaman. Eventually he engaged in the despicable practice of capturing natives from West Africa to be sold as slaves to markets around the world. But one day the grace of God put fear into the heart of this wicked slave trader through a fierce storm. Greatly alarmed and fearful of a shipwreck, Newton began to read The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. God used this book to lead him to a genuine conversion and a dramatic change in his way of life.
o Feeling a definite call to study for the ministry, Newton was encouraged and greatly influenced by John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. At the age of 39, John Newton became an ordained minister of the Anglican Church at the little village of Olney, near Cambridge, England. To add further impact to his powerful preaching, Newton introduced simple heart-felt hymns rather than the usual psalms in his services. When enough hymns could not be found, Newton began to write his own, often assisted by his close friend William Cowper. In 1779 their combined efforts produced the famous Olney Hymns hymnal. Amazing Grace was from that collection.
o Until the time of his death at the age of 82, John Newton never ceased to marvel at the grace of God that transformed him so completely. Shortly before his death he is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior!" What amazing grace!
o Video—Slave 3
o Anthem—My Tribute
How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me,
Things so undeserved,
Yet You gave to prove Your love for me.
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude.
All that I am and ever hope to be,
I owe it all to Thee.
– God calls us to bring people out of slavery! If a song can affect the world this way, why can’t we? We can if we will.
One thing leads to another—William Wilberforce
• Biography
– By any measure, William Wilberforce was a most remarkable man and, indeed, he has been described as "the greatest reformer in history." His legacy influenced the lives of kings and presidents and touched the poor and downtrodden in nations throughout the world.
– Wilberforce secured a seat in the House of Commons as a member of Parliament for Hull – just a few days after his 21st birthday.
– In the fall of 1785 he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, but he did not see how, or if, a Christian could serve God in politics. He was in the midst of what he would later describe as his "Great Change," or his embrace of evangelical Christianity.
– Not knowing where else to turn, Wilberforce sought out John Newton. Wilberforce had known Newton as a boy. But Wilberforce’s family, alarmed by his growing attachment to someone they considered a religious fanatic, took him away from Newton’s influence and that of the evangelical uncle and aunt with whom Wilberforce had been staying.
– Yet the good seed planted in Wilberforce’s heart by Newton (and by his uncle and aunt) never completely withered. When Wilberforce needed someone to turn to, he knew that he should seek out Newton.
– Newton helped Wilberforce see that God had a special purpose for his life – that he could serve God in politics and make a difference there, just as Daniel and Joseph had done in Old Testament times. By 1787, Wilberforce had taken up the charge for which we remember him today: the fight to abolish the British slave trade. And it was John Newton, the former slave trader, whom God used to help Wilberforce see that he should take this course. A man guilty of crimes against humanity had helped set a friend on the path of service to humanity.
• What Wilberforce learned from John Newton that we should know.
– I once was blind…but now I see,
– Was lost…but now am found.
– Do you see what this means? Everything is changed.
– Video—Madagascar
– The church in America is irrelevant to most people, the people who need God most.
o It is self-absorbed.
o It is off track.
o It is outwardly moralistic but internally moribund.
o It is boring because we have not grasped from what we have been saved. Luther—“Hear I stand. I can do no other.”
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. –Charles Wesley
o It is ineffective because we have ignored Christ’s primary call and it’s implications to change the world. If we do good deeds and leave people lost, we have disobeyed God. If in pursuing people for Christ, we do not seek to bring justice and righteousness into their lives and into our society we have disobeyed and no one will listen anyhow.
o You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)
o Video—Lifeboat
Offering
Pastoral Prayer
Amazing Grace (1-4)
Benediction
Amazing Grace (5)
