The Spirit Empowers

Sermon from Acts 16:1-15 for March 18

So…

Of all the things that are happening in your life right now, what is the most essential thing?

Being bombarded with all the complexities of life including the incessant blare of social media we sometimes get distracted from the essentials.

But keeping those essential things essential is the mission, otherwise we lose focus, get distracted or worse lost, and never get done what matters.

If you were to sum up your mission in life in one sentence, what would the sentence be?

Go on, take a minute and see if you can figure out a great mission statement for your life!

What? A minute is not enough? Well certainly not if you haven’t spent any time thinking about why you exist and what you are supposed to be doing with your life.

But that seems rather crazy doesn’t it. Not knowing who you are, why you are here, and what you are supposed to accomplish.

I mean, if that’s true, then it’s no surprise that you get up in the morning, wander through the day and go to bed wondering if anything you said or did mattered!

If you have no idea what you were supposed to accomplish, you can’t possibly know if you accomplished any of it!

But what if you made for yourself a mission statement! Something short and pithy, that encapsulates who you really want to be, and that drives your to accomplishing things that would fulfill that statement, like

From today on, I am always going to be the most fabulous me possible!

I particularly like that one, Or

As a child of God, I am going to make God proud of me today!

At the end of the day, you can look back and see all of the things you did and said that you realize made God smile, that made God glad that you are here and working on his kingdom, that you are a brother or sister to Jesus.

Or maybe your statement is

As a disciple of Jesus, I am going to introduce everyone I meet to God’s love.

I mean then you might say something, or you just might do something! Pay for the donut and coffee for the folks in car behind you. Take a lineman out of the road trying to get your power back on a hot coffee and baggie of cookies. Or stop by your town or village DPW and give them a bunch of extra mailboxes to hand out.

BTW, Deacons, how about that next year. Cookies and valentines to the Village and Town DPW?

A mission statement sets before you the big picture. In order for it to come true, you have to make some measurable goals. But the statement sets the agenda, reminds you of the final objective, and keeps you focused when you realize you are getting lost in the weeds.

God’s people are often just like a child with ADD or ADHD. We are so distracted by life, we forget who we are and what we are supposed to be accomplishing! Every shiny trinket catches our attention. And its only when we finally fall still that we go “oh, opps” and try to get back on track.

And just like we as individuals should have a mission statement to keep us focused, so should the church; and not just the big “C” church, but this particular outpost of the kingdom of God.

What is our mission statement? What is it that guilds and undergirds all of our efforts? Can you articulate it?

Listening to the Apostle Paul in Acts as he takes the gospel to the Gentiles, it becomes clear that he had a mission statement that propelled him through life.

He knew he was to introduce everyone he met to Jesus Christ, and in particular, every Gentile; and in order to do that, especially in the Gentile world, he had to make some choices about what he was going to do and not going to do

Imagine Paul hanging out on social media all day! Not happening!

On the other hand, all of us can imagine Paul tweeting about introducing Lydia to the way of Jesus! Badda Bing, Badda Boom!

And Allison and Sue and Tammy and all the rest – she was really into purple!

Some people are really confused about Paul’s wanting Timothy to be circumcised, but it fits Paul’s mission statement. He, Paul, needed to be able to move between Jews and Gentiles with ease as he shared the gospel. And he needed a team that could do the same.

Not being circumcised was going to be a problem for Timothy to move in Jewish circles, so Paul, suggested and Timothy decided. The mission matters. The mission makes things clear!

If wearing a suit to worship got in the way of his mission, Paul made clear, no more suits. If eating park got in the way of his mission, no more pork fried rice.

And if doing church as we have always done it gets in the way of extending the kingdom of God, we quit doing church as we have always done it. Radical, I know!

Will some people miss the old ways, sure!

But what is our mission statement? Who are we trying to include in the kingdom? What is it that we can change that is standing in their way? And if we can change it, we do!

Because our mission defines us. It says who we are and what we are about! It keeps us from majoring in the minors, getting lost in the weeds, doing things that have no impact on reaching who we say we want to reach with the love of Jesus Christ.

We even get up and get out of the church so we can meet people who are not yet in church in order to invite them to worship with us, or for us to worship with them wherever they want, because our mission statement is all about inviting others to follow Jesus.

We, the OMHPC, are about inviting others to come and follow Jesus, learning to love and respect all of God’s people, and making a difference in this world!

Mission statements clarify who we are, what we believe, and what we are going to do. They cut away at all the stuff that doesn’t fulfill mission, and they encourage us to focus.

Just like our own personal mission statements.

I am here to introduce other to Jesus, and to help them become faithful disciples!

A mission statement that you can articulate in one sentence can make everything else in life clear. It worked for Paul, and it works for the church when a congregation decides to declare one. This is who I am, this is who we are, and now we get to work.

This is our opportunity to make clear what God has called us to do and be.

If you have suggestion for a mission statement for the OMHPC, be sure to send along your thoughts to Otisvillepres@hvc.rr.com.

Amen.