"Lead With Your Faith"
Sermon Transcript for August 22, 2004
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:17-20
By Steve Wakefield
The message today is entitled, “Lead with your Faith”. The road to our summer mission trip began with monthly mission projects as I said earlier. Jacqui and Venita did a great job in leading the youth on those mission projects. To be eligible to go on the summer mission trip, each youth had to participate in a percentage of those projects. And I’d like to share a little bit about each one of those projects to give you part of the foundation for the message I’m about to bring to you. In July—not this July but the previous July—after we’d gotten back from Denver, Colorado, we went to Fletcher Place. And Fletcher Place is on the south side of Indianapolis and it’s a community outreach mission. And one of the things that they do in the summertime is they provide lunches to school kids in the neighborhood. A lot of these kids are very poor; they rely on school lunches for a substantial part of their nutrition. In the summer time they don’t get those lunches. So we went down to Stacey Park, pulled up with a bus and unload 150 lunches and fed 150 kids very quickly. They were anxious in getting their lunches. So in that project we fed the hungry.
In August we went to the Masonic Home and participated in their festival and took some of the residents out in wheelchairs and pushed them around the festival, which was a very interesting experience. And on that particular day, we were their legs. In September, we went to the Crises Pregnancy Center. And there we got a tour. I remember holding fetuses in various stages of development. It was a really amazing experience—the weight and feel of children in developmental phases in the womb. And we cleaned and we helped around the center. In that particular instance, we cleaned and we learned. In October we had a Community Prayer Walk. We asked three other churches to participate and we prayed for the community as we walked from Grace Church down to the Courthouse, had a candle ceremony, and prayed for our community. We prayed and brought Christ into our community. In November, we participated in Operation Christmas Child. And that is a project that’s run by Franklin Graham where you take shoeboxes and decorate them with Christmas paper and you fill them with soap, and toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, socks, articles of clothing, whatever you can pack in there, provide $5.00 for postage and take them to a collection center. And they are palleted up and taken around the world to third world countries. And in that we sent hope and joy to third world children.
In December we went to DeMar Homes. And DeMar Homes is a facility for mentally handicapped children. On this particular trip we didn’t work with the children; what we did was help the staff. Each one of the staff has to wrap the Christmas gifts for the residences in their unit. It’s a huge tasks; hundreds of gifts to be wrapped. So what we do is we go in and wrap those gifts so that the staff can spend time with the residences doing their jobs. We helped the staff. In January we went to Lighthouse Mission, a favorite project of ours, a mission for homeless men to be able to come in and spend the night. It’s quite amazing to watch our young adults interact with homeless men with no fear, with a caring heart. And we served meals, cleaned tables, ate with the residents, did laundry, even got to the point where we were taking garbage cans and soap and water and rags and washing out the garbage cans. In that particular instance we gave acceptance.
In February we went to the Juvenile Center, which was probably my favorite project last year. It’s a new project that Jacqui and Venita came up with. In going into the Juvenile Center, you go in to the holding area and they tell you what you can and can’t do, what to leave behind, the contraband you can’t take in for fear that the detainees would get a hold of it. We went in and we broke up, the girls went one way and the guys went another way. In our instance, we played basketball. I stood on the sidelines; I’m not in good enough shape to play basketball. But, actually, it was a great experience. And you could see the bond starting to form between our youth and the people who were locked up, the children, youth, young adults who were locked up. Then we went back in to their cellblock and played games with them. And the interesting thing was, that was just amazing to me, is by the time we’d spent some time with them in there, they were just like us. There was no hesitation; there were no barriers anymore. We were playing games and it was a lot of fun. But then lockdown came; time to get back in their cells. We stood there kind of wide eyed. They went up to each one of their cells, went in one by one, and the iron doors slammed shut and locked. We knew that we were leaving and they were staying. We participated in their lives and we cared enough to be there, a place where they get very few visitors.
In March we went to the Ronald McDonald House. Ronald McDonald House is a facility that is there for parents of children who are in Riley in long-term care. I think they charge $10.00 a day to stay there and it’s a nice place. What we did is we went in and cleaned. We learned about the Ronald McDonald House and there we cleaned to help keep the cost down and keep that facility open. In April we went to the Tara Center south of Franklin. It’s a short-term recovery program for alcoholics and drug abusers. We spoke with the three residents there. We sat in a round table discussion and they shared their lives with us and we listened. And we planted flowers at the facility and had lunch with them. In that, we listened and participated in their healing. And in June we went back to DeMar Homes for Wild West days where we actually get to interact with the residents in a more social environment, which is always good.
Each one of these circumstances challenged us to look beyond our normal routine and our normal life. Why do we do the monthly mission projects? They are preparation so that we recognize when someone is hurting and lost. They get us out of our comfort zone; and as I said, they cause us to open our eyes. It triggers compassion and, hopefully, action on our part. We practice learning how to exercise our faith.
I really like today’s Scripture so I’m going to read it again for you. Luke 5:17-20, “One day as he was teaching the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village in Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, they were sitting there and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’.”
I love this Scripture because I now understand my role as a Christian. And this only happened a few months ago. I used to think I had to know all the answers. I thought it was up to me to make Christians. That responsibility was so big that it was discouraging for me. Making someone a Christian, how do you do that? That responsibility, I know now, is up to Christ. My role is not to do a miraculous conversion. I’m a simple mat carrier like the men with the paralytic who took the paralytic to Jesus on a mat. My role is to get the youth to where Christ is so that Christ can touch their lives.
Recently I’ve realized how important it is to be with your faith. Stacey Erdman, John Elliott, Rev. Dan and I had a meeting this summer to talk about the goals of our Christian Education curriculum and actually to develop the Christian Education curriculum. And the process is far from finished; it will probably continue throughout this year as we work toward that goal. It’s a process that’s very important to our children and youth ministries. One thing has become very apparent to me—that we are talking about the spiritual formation within our children and our youth. Scriptural instruction is a very important part of that spiritual formation. Other parts, parts I reinforce over and over in the youth program, are prayer, service, and evangelism. Then the light came on for me in this last meeting we had. For God to be at work, leaders must lead with their faith. Children and youth recognize faith, even in small amounts. And I want to say that about leading in faith, but I also want to say small amounts is very important. It only takes a little faith to be a leader and youth and children recognize that. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t think your faith is strong enough to be a leader because it is. Grace Church must be continually providing opportunities for growing the faith in our youth leader volunteers. The special part of it is, I know as a fact, if you volunteer, God will grow your faith.
At the World Changers, hopefully you saw the connection between our offering slides that Bob put together for us and the Scripture. You saw our youth leaders and youth on the project leading with their faith. Why do you think that we as leaders, leaders sitting here on the right in the front row, go to World Changers with our youth? Because it’s fun? Hours of planning, vacation time away from our families, and even though some of our families, parts of our families go with us on occasion, many stay behind. Taking responsibility for other people’s children. If you only knew the weight that rests upon our shoulders—the safety and responsibility of the children, the youth that go. Transporting them long distances. Long days—up early in the morning at 5:30 a.m., leaving for the job site at 7:00 a.m., short nights, bed often at midnight. Bed’s supposed to be at 11:00 p.m. but you go to sleep about midnight by the time people settle down. Five hours of sleep if you are lucky. Conflict among youth, conflict among adults, and very challenging projects as you saw from the pictures. Emotional worship every night. Group devotions after worship in the dark outside. Physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, moment-by-moment flexibility required. Long lines at the shower trailers after a long day on the job. It goes on. Count the costs. Why do we do it? It’s because we love our youth, because we want them to know Christ, because we want their faith to grow.
Most of the time it is about leading with your faith when the spiritual light is on. But sometimes it is about being obedient. Often when we just choose to be obedient, God uses our obedience to turn in to something wonderful. And in that process, build our faith. The light goes on, but sometimes the light dims so dim that you don’t think it’s still on. You think, where is God? We talked about this during our small group discussions in our preparation during our forty days of reading Acts. And one of the small groups I was in, Colin asked me that question. Colin says, “You know, sometimes I just don’t feel the presence of God, don’t feel the presence of Christ. Sometimes I do, but sometimes I don’t.” And it troubled him. And I shared that sometimes I feel exactly the same way. But the feeling doesn’t last. The longer I let it lie with Christ the more infrequent that becomes and when it happens the shorter it lives. I encourage you not to be discouraged when your faith seems unknown to them. Be obedient and trust God. Do what God is asking you to do. Get plugged in! Take advantage of the opportunities that God provides to grow your faith. “When Jesus saw their faith…” (Their faith, the friends who brought the mat), “He said, ‘Friend (the paralytic) your sins are forgiven.’” When Jesus saw their faith…it doesn’t say, “When Jesus saw the paralytics faith.” I use to think, as I sometimes skim through the Bible in a rapid, speed reading fashion, I’d get things wrong. And when I focused in on that, it wasn’t the paralytic’s faith; it was the four men who brought the paralytic, their faith that caused Christ to act. This is really important to understand. This is the essence of evangelism. This is the essence of saving lives.
This is what our adult leaders do for our youth. We’re mat carriers. Whether it’s driving the van, whether it’s chaperoning, whether it’s leading youth group, we are mat carriers. It’s our job to get the youth to where Christ is present. Christ will do the rest. Christ will touch their lives. It might be through a mission project, youth group, worship, prayer walk, or just, as often happens, a one on one conversation or a caring faith for them and their lives shines through to help light their life. I may never be or never have more than a small grip on the corner of any one of the youth’s mats. We have Scott, we have Sarah, we have Vince, we have Stew, we have Carrie, we have Jacqui, Richard, Bob, Venita, John, Duane, Stacey, and Denise. It goes on; there are others. It’s about Christian community and the parts we all have to play in bringing our youth into Christ’s presence.
Was Jacqui a mat carrier for the two prostitutes by praying with them on the corner? Her goal wasn’t a miraculous conversion but to bring them into the presence of God. Was she afraid? She said she was afraid; we know she was afraid. But, she was obedient and her faith took over. And in that prayer that she had with those two ladies, God took over. Was Ricci a mat carrier for the homeless men when she ran down the alley with the hot dogs? I’d say she was. And I love the wisdom she brought back with her. We hadn’t talked about that. That she knew there was an opportunity and she knew that if she missed it, it would be a missed opportunity. She brought the men into God’s presence. Was our crew mat carriers for our homeowner on my project, who’s named Mary, when we invited her to participate in our devotions on her front porch? We brought her into God’s presence with our faith. And I know that because I saw the look on her face as she participated. Was it the work we did on those houses? Was it the roofs, the painting? Was it the front porches? Was it the handicapped ramps that were important? Or was it the hundreds of times Christ walked among the community of Roanoke that week that was most important? What is our hope as leaders of the youth? Our hope is that our youth will have faith and that it continues to grow. What is truly a beautiful site? Youth being mat carriers for other youth as Reverend Dan spoke of in the beginning, bringing friends to youth group, being mat carriers for their families, their families see their faith in action, and for the strangers they will meet at school and later in life. What about your faith? Does Christ see it in action? God requires much of Christians.
Lead with your faith—that’s our mission as youth leaders this year. Let your faith shine. It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about being authentic. Sometimes it’s not about being enthusiastic. Sometimes it’s about being obedient and letting God have an opportunity to work and build your faith. You might say to me, “Steve, I don’t feel that I have faith at this moment.” My response to you is that if you are here today, faith is at work. Build on it! You have faith enough to want more. Every first time attendee who walks through the doors of Grace Church is exercising a great faith that you will show them answers to their questions. God brought them here. Christ is present here. It’s up to us to answer their questions. How will your faith shine for them? Will you be a mat carrier for them?
In closing I’d like to tell you a story. It happened about three weeks ago. I was on my way to Atlanta on a business trip to go to the Federal Building. I was taking one of the people who works with me, he’s also named Steve, and we rode down in a car and it was a long trip down and we were going to pick up one of the other ladies that works with me, her name’s Susan, at the airport and all three of us were going to go in and have this meeting. So we picked her up and went to the meeting. We’re taking her back to the airport in Atlanta before we get to drive back. And Steve reaches into his sports coat pocket and is fishing around and pulls out a card and on it is the Prayer of St. Francis. He makes some crack about, “Well, what’s this doing in here? I don’t know how this got here.” And Susan in the backseat said something to him. I couldn’t hear exactly what she said. We dropped her off and we going out of Atlanta, north again in heavy traffic, and he says, “I don’t understand why Susan gets so upset I’m not a Christian.” He said, “You know that card, she said something to me and I just don’t understand where she is coming from.” And I said, “Well, I can’t speak for Susan because I haven’t talked to her about her faith, but I know this, that for me as a Christian, for me it’s a life and death issue. It’s about eternity. It’s about what we have now or what we can have as Christians, will have if we are Christians—eternity.” And I said, “If you like people, Steve, and I like people and I’m a Christian, I care about you and eternity. And that’s why it’s uncomfortable and a little disturbing to have you make light of Christianity. So that’s your choice, you can choose to be a Christian or not but that is an answer to your question.”
And I’d like to finish with the second part of the Scripture. After the four men brought their friend to Jesus and Jesus says your sins are forgiven, He gets in a discussion with the teachers and Pharisees there because they believe its blasphemy that He says He can forgive sins. And Jesus says, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up and take your mat and go home!’´
In reading that Scripture and studying it in preparing for the message, it struck me, “What did Jesus do first?” Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then he healed the man and said, “Take up your mat and go home.” Which is most important in our lives? I think sometimes what Jesus is saying to us is, “I have what you need but not necessarily what you want at the moment.” Obviously the paralytic wanted healed and wanted to be able to walk. That’s what was happening; Jesus was healing the sick. Bu the first thing Jesus did was, he forgave his sins. And in that, I think, is the essence of the Scripture for me. It’s our job to get people to the presence of Christ so Christ can forgive your sins.
Would you pray with me, “Dear Lord, we are so thankful for what you have given us. For all that we have, for the resources that we have, for the way you’ve touched our lives, for the faith walk that you’ve started us on, the faith that you’ve given us. Lord we pray that we will use that faith and we will respond to your call when you give it to us to exercise that faith and to grow it. Because in you we know we have peace and we have joy and we have eternal life. Keep us focused, keep our light shining brightly for those who need us most. In your name we pray, Amen.”
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