Inviting Others In - 1.19.20

Rev. Dr. Seth Thomas

St James Presbyterian Church

The Ethics of the Reign of God • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

John 1:29–42

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The New Revised Standard Version The Lamb of God

The Lamb of God

(Mt 3:13–17; Mk 1:9–11; Lk 3:21–22)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples of Jesus

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Come and See

We are not the Messiah

We point to the Messiah

We live in response to the Messiah.

Come and See…Not come and be me.

Most days, I need to be reminded of the good news. I need someone to sit me down and tell me that the Messiah has come! That sin and death are overcome. The Messiah has come.

And I need that same person to sit there and tell me even better news — that I am not the Messiah!

Our calling is not to rush around in the world expecting to save everyone, make every problem go away, or expect each other to be able to do this either.

Rather, our calling is to go into the world and look for the places where we can help as Jesus helps. To be a part of what Jesus is already doing. To go and witness how Jesus is moving in other people’s lives or showing us ways to care and alleviate pain and suffering in whatever meager ways we can.

Do you catch the difference here? It is very subtle, but so very important.

We do not come and see what Jesus is doing as if we our Jesus ourselves. We come and see what Jesus is up to from a posture of hope that we might witness the power of the risen Lord at work. That we might, in spite of our weakness or lack of skill, have some little way to contribute that God will multiply and bless.

And so, Jesus goes out and calls the first disciples. The lamb of God, the Messiah, goes for a walk and sees John the Baptists followers as he goes. They are intrigued at the Messiah, intrigued by what they saw, and they ask him where he is going. Andrew and Simon, who was called Peter, are invited by Jesus to come and see where he is going. They’re looking for a teacher and they follow him.

This is really not some miraculous, empowering moment for these guys. Unlike the passage before, where we hear about the baptism of Jesus and the Spirit descending upon him, in this calling of the disciples, its simply an invitation, “come and see.”

And that’s important, again, because it clarifies the way we are to engage in our calling and our participation with Jesus in the world. Jesus doesn’t say “come and do” or “come and lead” or “come and fix this problem with me.” Jesus says — come and see. Come witness what I am doing. Come down the road with me, journey with me, and see what God is up to.

Do you hear the grace in this? The relief from having to be the one who has it all figured out right away? That’s not what the invitation is about — Jesus is inviting us to participate in his good life and good way by “seeing” it. Witnessing it.

I know it can be so easy for people in our community and our Pacific Northwest culture to feel overwhelmed by the invitation to get involved or make something big happen. We are a community of high achievers, yes, but we are also pretty reluctant to commit to something new if we don’t feel we have mastery or a clear sense of what it will require of us.

I’ve shared before that I was invited to join a tenor/bass choir here in town last year. I’ve sung with the Choir of the Salish Sea for two seasons and I have really enjoyed it. And yet…I’ll confess, when this new season started up a couple of weeks ago, my gut instinct was to say “no, can’t do it, don’t have the energy. It won’t be fun, it’s too much work.”

In my life, this is a perfect example of the resistance that stands in my way from doing the things that I know God calls me to.

But…thankfully, I showed up. And I’ll keep showing up. And singing. Not because I am the Messiah who will make my group sound better by my mere presence and everybody needs me and I’m amazing. Certainly not.

But, instead…I’ll keep showing up to see what Jesus is inviting me to be a part of there. Sure, it’s just a choir…but its also a place to bear witness to the world’s pain through music and lyrics. It’s a connecting point to the lives of many other men from our city, men whose lives touch mine and teach me.

It is a place, like many places in our lives, where I am invited to come and see what God is doing and to bear witness to it.

God is doing something here in our church. God is growing us, challenging us, inviting us to serve in new and old ways, to make space for new and old members to find life in God’s Spirit, a fresh life with Christ.

And God has called you here to participate in that. One of the ways you can do this is by getting involved with something. You can sing in the choir, you can join an action committee, you can volunteer with one of our mission partners or across the street at Lowell Elementary. You can give time, talent, and treasure back to the work we do here so it can grow and impact others’ lives for the cause of Christ’s love in the world.

You are invited.

But here this — you’re not invited because you need to solve all our problems. Or because anyone actually expects you can. You’re not invited to be the Messiah or to have the magic solution to homelessness in our city or make every meal for our community gatherings or shovel all the snow or teach every Sunday School class.

You’re invited in because God is doing something. And you’re invited in to join, to participate. To bring what you can. And to share in it with others who are trying to do the same. To be with other imperfect people walking along the journey, trying to follow the teacher, Jesus, and tell the story of how his goodness and mercy changes your life.

We are to be the “taught ones”, the disciples, not the experts. So come with your questions, come with all that is unresolved, come to the table of Jesus to see what you can see. Come to be changed.

Hear this, as well. Hear what is not said: Stay there, on the sidelines. Jesus doesn’t say, “stay put, I’ll be right back.” Or “just sit there and consider what God might be doing.”

I’ll confess, again, that I struggle with this kind of thing. I wonder if you do. I struggle with knowing how to take the step forward sometimes, to engage the world around me, and so its often easier to just get stuck, to stay in my head, to become isolated, to start to worry that if I act, I’ll do the wrong thing and so therefore I shouldn’t act. Does anyone resonate with this?

But that’s not what Jesus invites the followers to do. He invites them to more. To get up and try following him. There are no instructions on how to do it, at least not yet. Just move, get up off the floor and take a step.

For me, taking the step and moving towards others and towards the path that Jesus leads me on, it can be hard hard work…and yet when I do, when I move, when I reach out and go looking for what God is up to out ahead of me, when I “come and see” — things happen! Not always enormous, miraculous things, but movement happens. If I can get up and, with a posture of openness to what might be, take a step towards another person or step our in an act of compassion, I’ve come to discover that Jesus will meet me there and make a way for change and growth and awakening to happen.

What I’m saying is that this call to come and see, it’s the kind of thing you have to get up and do in order to understand. We have to step in, step out, take the invitation, show up. We have to say, Ok, I’ll try this, I’ll participate, I’ll get involved. Not because I know what the outcome will be or because I have it all figured out or I even know the next step or where its headed. But rather, as an act of faith that God is calling me forward.

You might be thinking — sure, ok, this is all well and good, but I don’t know where to step out. I’m not hearing the call to come and see. Or I have come and seen and now what.

The simple answer is to look for the next step. What’s going on immediately around us that we can participate in?

Really practically — you can get involved with something here. You want to get to know people and get outside your comfort zone? Help out with ushering on a Sunday morning, arriving early and welcoming people to worship. You want to study the Bible, but don’t know where to start? Come to the 9:30am Sunday morning Bible Study class and read over the Scriptures that are being read in service that day. You like working with kids and young people? Tell Tracy and she’ll find a way to get you connected with supporting our Godly Play and Youth programs.

What are you interested in? Or what problems do you see that you could help solve? Where are you drawn, what do you gravitate toward?

Tell someone about it. And then take the invitation to come and see and get involved in what God is doing.

Next week, we have our Annual Congregational Meeting and distribute our Annual Report. In it, you’ll read about a lot of great things that have been going on around here this past year. As you read and hear the stories, ask this — what draws me in? Perhaps that’s an inkling of invitation that says…come and see.

As well, each year we distribute questionnaires that offer you a chance to sign up and volunteer in a variety of ways around the church. When that happens, take it as an invitation to see what Jesus is up to around your church and jump in. Come and see.

God calls us to come and see, not because we’ve got it figured out. But because when we show up, we find the fullness of life that is beyond all the answers. We find the Messiah, who is not us, but who is the Christ, at work healing and restoring creation.

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, I think it is appropriate to close in considering this calling to “come and see” by Jesus in the context of the Civil Rights movement. Very simply, the rise of this historic movement of people in our nations history was most certainly a “come and see” moment. It was not only MLK who did the work of speaking up for equal rights and racial justice. He was saying “come and see” what Jesus is calling our nation to. And in this invitation, he inspired millions of people to come along and participate. He didn’t march alone, protest alone, speak up alone. And so neither are we invited to. We are invited to come and see what God is doing around our country and world. Come and see injustice. Come and see war. Come and see pain. Come and see to encounter how Jesus will use us to alleviate these struggles, to make right what is broken, to participate in the reign of God in grace and mercy and truth.

The invitation is here.

So…come and see.

And in doing so…may you be overcome with joy and surprise and hope as you find the light of Christ which has been calling your heart.

Inviting Others In - 1.19.20

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