I Peter 5:1-11

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God gives us gifts to do his work in the world.<= o:p>

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

May 11, 2008

I saw an interesting little article on the int= ernet recently listing “Things My Mother Taught Me.” With today being Mother’s Da= y, I thought it would be good to remember some of the things our mothers have ta= ught us.

My mother taught me religion; she said, “You= 217;d better pray that comes out of the carpet!”

My mother taught me ab= out time travel; she said, “If = you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of = next week.”

My mother taught me foresight; she said, “Make = sure you wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.”

My mother taught me irony; she said, “Keep on c= rying, and I’ll give you something to cry about!”

My mother taught me ab= out osmosis; she said, “Shut yo= ur mouth and eat your supper!”

My mother taught me ab= out contortionism; she said, “W= ould you just look at the dirt on the back of your neck!”

My mother taught me ab= out the weather; she said, “= It looks like a tornado hit your room.”

My mother taught me ab= out hypocrisy; she said, “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times—donR= 17;t exaggerate!”

My mother taught me ab= out the circle of life; she said, “I brought you into this world, I can take you out!”=

My mother taught me interesting facts about anatomy; she said, “If you don’t quit crossing your eyes, they’re goin= g to freeze that way!”

My mother taught me ab= out genetics; she said, “You= 217;re just like your father!”

And finally, my mother taught me about justice; she s= aid, “One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!”= [1]

I think mothers must t= ake a secret class and learn from the same script, because I have heard those statements from the lips of more than one mother.

I’ll have to be = honest with you, though, those are not the real things I learned from my mother. One of the most important things I learned from my mother and my father was the concept of ministry—in particular lay ministry. Neit= her one of them ever got paid a cent for the work they did in the church, but my Dad was active all his life, and my Mom continues to be active in the minis= try of her church. When I was in elementary school, my mother and father were youth counselors for the teena= gers at First United Methodist Church in Camden. They went everywhere with them and chaperoned their youth choir trips. That meant I got to go sometimes, too, and I got to know some real teenagers who played guitars and sang songs and seemed so cool and so grown= -up to me. That exposure had a pr= ofound effect on my life—at least it got me started playing the guitar.=

When we moved to Sheridan, we had = not lived there more than a few months when their organist quit. The pastor asked my mother to pinc= h hit until they found somebody, and she did—for about twenty years! Every Sunday, every Wednesday, she= was there, taking off from work in the middle of the day to go up to the church= and practice. (My dad let her off work do that.) Her faithfulness and joy in that ministry was a great witness to me.

Before I was ever call= ed to preach, I knew what it meant to be in ministry. My parents taught me that.

Today, Saint Peter is = going to teach us about the gift of ministry, too. In this wonderful Scripture lesson, there are many deep thoughts, but I want to share four of them as key eleme= nts in the gift of ministry. God = gives us these gifts in order that we may do his work in the world.

The first one is ENTHUSIASM. Listen to the thrill in Peter̵= 7;s words: “Now as an elder mysel= f and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glo= ry to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that= is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingl= y, as God would have you do it—not for sordid gain but eagerly.”= = [2] Disciples who lead in min= istry are supposed to be excited about it. They should set an example—of spirituality, of morality, of integrity, and of enthusiasm about the Gospel. We’re not just going through= the motions here; we’re not just upholding a historical structure or tradition. We are excited tod= ay because God is here and is at work among us! We want to engage the world with this good news; we want to be enthusiastic followers of Christ. We want to give it our all.

There was a preacher b= ack in the eighteenth century who was fairly eager for the faith. He stood only five feet three inch= es tall and weighed only 128 pounds. He was not a particularly handsome man. Early in his adult life he suffere= d from bouts of depression; he felt like he was a failure.

But at the age of 35 h= e had an experience in which the power of the risen Christ became very real to him. He decided that God was calling him to do something special with his life, and he attacked it eager= ly.

Over the next half cen= tury, this amazing little man rode over 250,000 miles on horseback. That distance is equal to ten trips around the planet. He preache= d over 40,000 sermons, which averages out to three sermons a day, seven days a wee= k, for forty solid years! He wro= te a book on medicine; he opened free clinics for the poor people. He organized schools for poor children. And when he died in= 1791, he had almost 120,000 followers in England<= /st1:country-region> and America. Today the movement that was starte= d on horseback is a world-wide organization with over 40 million adherents. You and I are part of that movement. That little five-foot-three, 128-pound preacher was named John Wesley, the founder of t= he Methodist movement. One of th= e keys to his success was his enthusiasm. When he preached, he said “I set myself on fire, and people co= me from miles around to watch me burn.”= That’s enthusiasm!

Today, along with Mother’s Day, we are also celebrating the Christian festival of Pentecost—the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples gathered in= Jerusalem. We call Pentecost the Birthday of = the Church. If you remember the Pentecost scene, with the wind blowing, tongues of fire dancing on the believers’ heads, and t= he disciples speaking in languages they had not learned, then you get a pictur= e of the enthusiasm of the Spirit. Ministry done in the power of the Spirit is ministry done with enthusiasm.

The second gift of min= istry is HUMILITY. People who are truly in minist= ry, and not making a show for their own sake, are genuinely humble people. We know that the power for ministr= y is not our own; it comes from God. We know that any goodness, any talent, any fruit of success we enjoy is a gift= of God’s grace, and not something we even deserve. For Peter, this is a key quality of ministry: “And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, unde= r the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.”= = [3] Humility releases power for ministry because you’re not using energy to build yourself up. You can concentrate on being produ= ctive in what you were called to do.

It’s rare to fin= d an example of humility in the world of professional sports, but second baseman Todd Walker was one. He was a difference-maker without ever being a star—or ever thinking he was one. The climax of his career= came in 2003, when he helped the Boston Red Sox reach the post season, hitting a record five home runs in the American League playoffs. His reward for that performance wa= s to be traded to the Chicago Cubs. He signed on with the Cubs as a backup to their starting second baseman. Even though Todd would rather have= been starting at second base than playing second fiddle in the dugout, as a foll= ower of Jesus Christ, he learned not to try and call all the shots himself. He said, "The only time I rea= lly perform well is when I'm the most humble. When I start feeling like I'm bet= ter than I probably am, that's when things start to slip."

As the 2004 season beg= an, the starting second baseman for the Cubs tore his right Achilles' tendon. Todd Walker became the starter. Walker said, "My faith in Jesus Christ has played a huge role in my life from= day one. Sometimes I've drawn upon his strength, and sometimes I've tried to ju= st figure things out for myself. When I've been closest in my relationship with Christ and when I've drawn on his strength is when I've been the most power= ful person."[4]

How many powerful yet = humble heroes of ministry do you see every day, perhaps without even knowing it? How many do we have serving in this church? Look around. You can find them teaching Sunday School, helping with the children and youth, singing in the choir, visiting= the sick, volunteering at the = Caring Place, or doing any one of dozens of ministries. They won’t = be bragging about it. But if you= want to see someone who is doing an excellent, soul-satisfying job for the glory= of God, that’s where you look. It’s because they’re doing ministry as a gift.

The third gift of God = for ministry is COURAGE. It’s not always a friendly environment in which we do ministry. We have to develop strength to endure the struggle. Peter says, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert.= Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking = for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all= the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”[5] That was certainly true then.= It is still true in many parts of = the world today. Following Jesus = can be dangerous business. Being a disciple anywhere is a spiritual battle.&n= bsp; There are forces of evil arrayed against us. How can we hope to win without supernatural courage?

St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest thinker of the medieval period of church history, was born into a noble and wealthy family in Italy in the 13^th century. Unlike his seven brothers, he had no interest in the military or politics. So his father prepa= red him for a career in the Church. (Maybe he could at least become Pope.) Unfortunately, Thomas felt called = to join the lowliest order of the clergy, an impoverished order of monks called the Dominicans. When his fami= ly found out, they were horrified. His seven brothers chased him down, beat him up, and stripped his friar’s robe off his back. Then they = locked him in the tower of the family castle for over a year.

When it became apparen= t that Thomas was not changing his mind, his brothers hired a beautiful prostitute= and sent her into the tower, hoping that by succumbing to temptation, Thomas wo= uld end this holiness thing once and for all.&= nbsp; When she came into the room, Thomas snatched a flaming stick out of = the fireplace and brandished it like a sword at the young woman. She screamed and fled. Thomas slammed the door behind her= and used the flaming stick to burn a brand in the door—a big, black sign = of the cross.

The family finally gav= e up on their “black sheep,” and Thomas went on to become a poor monk and one of the greatest philosophers in history.[6]

It takes courage to fi= ght against evil; it takes courage to be in ministry. It takes courage to face a Sunday = School class of junior highs (or any other age).&= nbsp; It takes guts to hold the hand of a person dying with cancer and pray out loud. You have to have ne= rves of steel to make yourself vulnerable enough to share your faith with a non-believer. It takes courag= e just to stare down the lion of temptation and try to walk a Christian walk in an evil world.

But we never lose HOPE. That is the last key to the gift of ministry. We are never limite= d by the present circumstances. We= can see beyond the valley to the victory. We have a supernatural partner in the struggle. Listen to this: “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of a= ll grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself rest= ore, support, strengthen, and establish you.&nb= sp; To him be power forever and ever.&n= bsp; Amen.”[7] That is great news! That is our hope.

A few years ago in The Upper Room, there was a lady n= amed Elizabeth Brown who visited an old cemetery in Pennsylvania. One of the tombstones had the inscription, “Our love, our anticipation, our all, lies here.”<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Chiseled 150 years ago, the tombst= one marked the grave of a 15-month-old firstborn child of a couple. Though in that day the death of a = child was not uncommon, the anguish of those parents was still very real. How they must have loved and hoped= and dreamed for the life of that child! It was no different then than now.&= nbsp; Sometimes we face situations in life that seem hopeless—disapp= ointments that are too much to bear, relationships that cannot be reconciled, mountai= ns of pain and grief that are too tall to climb.[8]

But that tombstone rem= inded Elizabeth Brown and reminds us of another grave, a tomb where the stone was rolled away, a cave where the angel proclaimed our hope: “He is not here; he is risen, as he said.”= = [9] Our love, our anticipatio= n, our all was in that grave for three days; then he rose again. The despair of the disciples was transformed into world-changing ministry by the power of the = Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Therefor= e we have hope, even in the darkest of circumstances. Therefore we have hope to overcome= our difficulties. Therefore we ha= ve hope to do ministry that sees a better day ahead.

Have you received the = gift of ministry today? Is there a Kingdom purpose for your life? Does it show in your enthusiasm for the work of Jesus Christ? Does it show in the humility of yo= ur spirit? Does it show in the c= ourage you exhibit in the face of difficulties?&n= bsp; Does it show in the hope that never gives up, never gives in, and al= ways looks to the future? On this Mother’s Day of 2008, learn that ministry is a gift. It will make your mama proud. Amen!