PAPERS F R O M T H E F A L L S C H U R C H LIVING UNDER THE MERCY 9. Three Constants in Christian Leadership A sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. John W. Yates, II November 12, 2017 Romans 15: So many of us in this room are leaders Christian leaders are always concerned about at least three things, and these three things show up clearly in the section from Paul s letter to the Roman church which we just read. Leadership isn t just personal it s a vital part of our calling together as a church last week we talked about the unique priorities of this church and we talked about some of our aims and ambition for our future as a church family. But I didn t say nor have I hardly ever said that a part of our mission as a church is leadership we are a church full of chiefs, and the result is that our church has real leadership responsibilities, particularly among other Anglican churches but beyond our movement also. I hear repeatedly that others look to our church as a model and leader amongst churches now we are rightly somewhat skeptical about this because we are aware of our failings and limitations and weaknesses as a church. But still it is true. Recently spoken to clergy/leaders of three different places. We know that there are so many areas in which we need to do better as a church but others look at us and are inspired. So leading well as a church is a part of our responsibility whatever we do isn t just for us, but it s for others in Christ s family as well. I thought about all this as I read Romans 15, and also about three Christian leaders who influenced and led me when I was younger any of them could have written about their own lives and ministries very similarly to what Paul wrote, because he wrote about three things that almost every Christian leader necessarily thinks about. First, Paul wrote about the vision and plans that animated and excited him. Then he wrote about money the need of it and the blessing of giving it for God s purposes. And finally, he wrote about prayer his own prayer life and his great desire for the prayers of others. Christian leaders must be very prayerful. If you re a Christian leader, you are frequently thinking about these same three things. Let s look at them and be encouraged and challenged! 1. First the matter of plans and vision. (vv. 20-25) Leaders can t help planning and dreaming, and their plans grow out of their vision, and their vision grows out of the words God speaks to them. More than anything else Paul s ambition was to declare
2 the message, the news about Jesus in regions where the gospel had not been proclaimed. His vision was based on scripture he cites Isaiah 52, and for Paul, Jesus personal commission must ve always been ringing in his ears. In describing Jesus words to him in his Damascus road conversion, he said that Christ said to him: God appointed you, Paul, to know his will for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. (Acts 22:15) Later in Acts 26, in another situation Paul quoted Christ s commission to him on the Damascus road in almost the same words. I have appointed you as a servant and witness in sending you to the Gentiles, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light. And from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 26:10ff) These words shaped Paul s ambition to preach Christ where people had never heard of him. Have you ever heard a passage, read, preached, studied and pondered a passage, and felt a burning inside as though God was moving you in some way to pay attention listen for this is a word for you? One word from God can start a fire in your soul that inspires you and moves you for the rest of your life. Paul was about to leave Corinth, sail to Jerusalem, then travel to Rome and then go on to Spain resuming his pioneer evangelism work if he made these journeys by ship that would be over 3,000 miles travel minimum, and if some journey by land, many more miles! Travel was dangerous and uncertain in those days yet he announced his plan with nonchalance, as though it was no big deal. He had heard Christ speak to him, and these words animated him for the rest of his days. Preach the Gospel where they have never heard it. When you are driven by godly vision, things seem quite achievable to you, and you don t focus on the problems you operate out of a sense that this thing will come about if you just push towards this expectantly in the power of the Holy Spirit. For years Paul had sensed God would take him to Rome, and beyond that, he had long had his sights set on Spain, a region where the Gospel had not yet penetrated. He could see it in his mind clearly. He was animated by this vision. It was already a reality for him! When I told you three years ago that the 6565 property would become a center for hope and healing it was clear to me this must happen and it IS happening, and it will continue to happen more definitively. I have no doubt about it. That s the way godly vision works. Christian leaders have this. Perhaps you have it. Perhaps God is giving you a vision now? Much more could be said but not today. 2. The second thing Christian leaders are frequently considering is money. (vv. 24-29) When he writes that he hopes they will assist him in going on to Spain from Rome he uses a word that had already become almost a technical Christian term for helping missionaries on their way. (This is where a study Bible helps!) It means that he was counting on them to supply him with provision and funds for his work in Spain.
3 The particular word is found 6 times in the New Testament (3 John 6-8). It is defined in the Greek dictionary as to help on one s journey with food, money, by arranging for companions, means of travel, etc. Here Paul is saying that the mission to Spain will need to be financially supported and he is counting on the brothers in Rome to help out. Then Paul shifts to another monetary matter. He tells them that his upcoming trip to Jerusalem is to deliver to the Christians there a sizeable gift of money that the churches in Greece had collected or contributed because the believers in Jerusalem were impoverished. The Jerusalem church was the mother church for Jewish Christians the gospel had gone out from there and all the Greek churches were in debt to the Jerusalem church for sending the gospel to them. In Acts we read that there were not many wealthy folks in the Jerusalem church it had been poor from the beginning and the few wealthy members there had sold property and possessions early on to share with and help their needy brothers and sisters. Jerusalem was not a prosperous city the Jews there were poor as well but their relatives who had spread out into Turkey and Italy and Greece over the years had prospered and regularly sent funds back to them, just like emigrants here do. The Christians of course would not receive such aid so that they were even poorer than the poor. Paul had taught every church he planted that Christians are a family and we must try to take care of one another. So as he spent time with the young churches in Greece and Turkey he explained the needs of the mother church and asked the people to contribute he asked them in person and then we know from some of his letters he asked them again in writing. Paul writes here that they were pleased to do this, they owed this sort of loving gift to the mother church. (reread v.v. 26-27) But we also know Paul had to remind them to follow through. A Christian leader can t be hesitant to ask God s people to give generously to extend the ministry to needy places and people when we give to God s people we give to God to whom we owe everything. We here send an offering, sometimes two or three offerings, every year in a similar way. When we were in crisis a few years ago Christian bishops and archbishops from the Global South came to help us, guide us. They loved and encouraged us and helped us get re-established. So then, feeling debt of gratitude to them, we and others established ARDF (Anglican Relief and Development Fund) to give back to these churches whose leaders had helped us so. We make substantial gifts for these archbishops to distribute where the need is greatest, where fellow believers are in crisis because of poverty or natural disaster. Of course, for years we have sent funds and resources to help support ministry and mission around the world, as well as our own people who are doing Bible translations, literacy, Christian education, medical work, evangelism, pastor training and discipleship, working to improve living conditions, provide water and electricity and better housing, feeding programs, rescuing people from slavery and many other things. Working in countries such as these: Cameroon S.E. Asia Korea Haiti Niger India Turkey Kenya Uganda Tanzania Senegal Nigeria
4 Each has been possessed of a vision from God to go and pursue the work of Christ in these places. We invest a sizeable portion of our annual budget to ministries like this. During these past five years when we have been through unusual stress and have had to dig deep to establish a new home, we have maintained support of our local and foreign mission work because it matters. We are totally indebted to God for all we have, and so it is natural that we give back to him of all our resources, so that we can serve others whom Christ loves. You can t outgive God. Sometimes God chastised his people when they gave God only a negligible portion of their resources you probably recall what God said in Malachi 3. He said the people were robbing God by not giving generously of their tithes and contribution. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put one to the test, says the Lord if I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour down a blessing until there is no more need. Jesus said to the first little church, Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will it be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:38) We know that all of our life belongs to God we owe him everything and Jesus calls us to serve God with all our energy, all our resources. This isn t a law that God rigidly enforces it s our great opportunity an invitation! And how we use our financial resources is an integral part of this. So Christian leaders teach God s people the principle of the tithe so that we all learn to give regularly and proportionately of what God has given us. As we learn to give by giving 10%, we find soon that we want to give more and we become generous people. That s what Paul was after when he taught the church to contribute to his collection if we didn t teach Christian stewardship we would not only be robbing God but robbing our people of the opportunity to learn what generosity means. Very few are born with generous spirits we have to be taught and teach our children. The final point that Paul emphasizes here before the close of his letter in 16, has to do with prayer. Prayer is at the heart of a Christian leader s daily life Paul has already said more than once that he prays for those Roman brothers and sisters but now he asks them to pray for him. (vv. 30-33) Please, he says, because of the love of Jesus and because of the love the Holy Spirit has put in your heart, please join me in the struggle of prayer prayer is not easy. Oh, it s easy just to lightly touch on things and ask God to bless us and the people we love, but real prayer is a struggle. Real prayer is the struggle to be faithful to God. All of us are caught up in a very real struggle in our lives between the forces of good and evil all around us. We struggle to know what is good and pleasing to God, we struggle to know how to combat what is evil. We who are weak struggle to become stronger. The heart of our struggle to know how to please and serve God is prayer it s in prayer that we seek to listen to God and discern his will.
5 The older I become, the more I see that it is a struggle to really know what is in our own hearts what we fear, what is tempting us, what we really truly want it s a struggle then also to bring these things to God in utter honesty to be totally open and vulnerable to God. And then it s a struggle not only to know what God wants of us, but a struggle, really, to want always what God wants. All these things we wrestle with in prayer. What s your prayer life like? Prayer is not simply about asking God to give us what we want, not about asking him to bless our plans, but it s about aligning ourselves with God s will and this is a struggle. It s not easily done. How hard it was even for Jesus to conclude his impassioned prayer on his last night with nevertheless not my will but your will be done. St. Paul wasn t just making plans and raising funds. Paul was in prayer, striving to know and do only what God wanted. Paul knew that he would be in great danger when he returned to Jerusalem he was the most wanted man alive in the eyes of Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. And he knew that many of the Christians in Jerusalem didn t trust him; they felt he had watered down the gospel with all his teaching on grace and freedom from the many rules and regulations of Judaism. They might not want to receive gifts from the Gentile churches but Paul knew that the solidarity between Jewish and Gentile believers could be strengthened by this gift. So he asks Romans to pray that nothing will prevent the giving and receiving of the gift. He also asks them to pray that he may come to Rome then and be with them, knowing he might be in need of their kindness and help after a difficult time in Jerusalem. (v. 32) Paul didn t know for certain what God wanted he knew what he wanted but asked that God s will be fulfilled in these requests. Were these prayers answered? Well, we think the collection was delivered and received but we don t know for sure. The other two prayers were answered but not as Paul expected. He was arrested in Rome by unbelievers, but he was kept safe and protected he was tried and imprisoned but rescued from a plot to kill him. And, yes, he did reach Rome but not for three years, and then only as a prisoner, almost dead from shipwreck. What does this teach us about prayer? We learn from this that prayer is not an automatic guarantee of anything it is essential for us and it s good to ask others to pray for us, but there is a struggle in prayer to not only discern God s will but then give ourselves to it when we do that God will work things out according to his providential plans. But often not at all the way we think things will happen. Friends, haven t we learned this! Paul ends by praying for his Roman friends to have peace the peace of God because he had learned that when we trust in God we can have peace even though everything about this life is hard. What have we seen? Christian leaders, and churches that are leader churches, are passionate about the work God has given them. The word of God speaks to us and gives us visions to pursue. We all experience many setbacks, frequently we are attempting to raise needed funds, and all this drives us to prayer in a
6 deep, sincere desire to know and do the will of God as best we can. We learn then that the people of God move forward on their knees. So we pray, and sometimes it s a struggle. Many of you have God-given visions you are pursuing. God bless you. As best we can we will encourage you. Some may not be particularly clear what aims, ambitions, God wants you to pursue. I m pretty sure that if you love Jesus Christ, he will show you. It s not easy to know exactly how to serve Christ well in Washington, DC. I laughingly tell friends that years ago God told me my job was to chase the devil out of Washington doesn t look like I ll ever be able to retire. Just want to say this. Don t settle for a just getting along, don t buy into that American dream about retiring early and moving to Florida! That s an empty dream. Love Jesus Christ. Get to know Jesus Christ, fall in love with him. Give yourself to him. Commit to love your neighbor. And he will give you his visions, he will give you his work. It will always be a struggle. But in it all he will give you his peace. An audio version of this sermon may be heard through a link on the church s website, www.tfcanglican.org. It is also available on CD if you or someone you wish to give it to would find that more convenient. CDs are available for $4.50 from the Sermon Ministry, email: bookstore@tfcanglican.org, or The Falls Church Anglican, 6565 Arlington Blvd., Suite 300, Falls Church, VA 22042.