A Life in Balance - Opportunities

Preached at Hallam and Martell UMCs, September 24, 2007.

What is it that you want from church--not God, but from church? Most people want it to be many things: a place where it is safe to be who you really are; a place that makes a difference--a part of a compelling cause, making a lasting difference in the world, meeting urgent needs in our community and beyond. Other answers might include knowing that it is a place where you can make significant relationships with people who care; a place that is growing; or a place that draws me closer to God.

According to George Barna, the greatest draws for younger people are relationships and action—doing good in the community—more so than any other church activity. So... what are YOU doing in the community to communicate that this is a place that is part of a compelling cause? making a lasting difference in the world? meeting urgent needs in the community? that this is a place that is making significant relationships?

The reason I ask is that 70% of first time visitors come from personal invitations from members of the congregation. Very few people simply wander in off the street. Most are invited by YOU.

Last week I talked about balance in our relationships, how we need to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of others. This morning, I want to talk about balance again, and it dovetails with last weeks sermon: we have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others, but it is hard to tell someone that our church is making difference if YOU are not making a difference. Jesus said to go into the world and make disciples, but it is hard to make a disciple if you are not a disciple. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that the people in this congregation are not disciples, simply that we need to be authentic in our aims, ensuring that our stated desires for what we want from a church match up with our actions in the world. If our personal habits do not speak to our discipleship, why would anyone want to listen to us talk about discipleship? Pointing back to the idea of balance, we have to balance our desire to grow as a church with the habits we have as individuals. If our habits are not attractive to those who are looking for a church home, it won't happen! We have to balance our opportunities with our preparedness.

Look closely at what happened with Paul and Silas. They were put in jail, and because their habits were those of disciples—they were in the habit of praising God—they began to sing. The Bible tells us that all the prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was an earthquake and all the doors were opened. Now there are a dozen sermons just in that moment, but I want to focus on something different. An opportunity presented itself. The prisoners, including Paul and Silas could have run away. Instead, they stayed to evangelize the jailer – I would suggest that was part of their habit! The jailer's entire family became Christians because of their habits, and I would guess, although scripture doesn't tell us, that much of the jail became Christians as well!

You've heard the Boy scouts motto, “Be prepared.” There are always opportunities to do good, always opportunities to evangelize—to tell what God has done in your life, to share what God has given.

My wife told me a story just this morning--about a woman waiting for her flight in an airport. She had some time to kill, so she bought a book and a small package of cookies. She sat down and opened her book and started reading. A man sat down next to her and the next thing she knew, he opened the box of cookies and was eating one of them! This upset the woman but she did not want to create a scene. She was shocked at his audacity! She took another cookie, and he took another—the nerve of this guy! Every time she took one, he would take one. This continued until there was only one cookie left. The man picked up the final cookie broke it in two and offered it to the woman? She was so furious that she grabbed it out of his hand, took her bag and stormed away. When she got on the plane, she was still fuming. Before she sat down, she reached into her bag to find her book. What she pulled out was the box of cookies which she had bought! The man she was angry with turned out to be the generous one-sharing without being indignant or selfish—what an opportunity!

Now those kinds of opportunities don't happen every day, do they? But how many of you ate out this week? Did you leave a good tip? Waitresses tell me that those who make a show of being Christians are often the worst tippers. What kind of witness is that about trust, thankfulness, and generosity?

Now you might say that the size of the tip depends on the service you get. But what if that waitress has had four tables stiff her already—of course she is in a bad mood. You have an opportunity to not only change her day and attitude, but the service and attitude of every person she serves the rest of the day! Go out to dinner—and tip well!

Paul and Silas were prepared to evangelize the jailer not because they were doing anything special—they were being themselves—they were in the habit of praising God, sharing the Good News with people.

So the question comes back, what can we do to begin to develop these habits? Maximizing our ability to effectively reach out to people includes becoming more alert to opportunities to share what God has done in our lives. Preparing our hearts to do so includes becoming serious discipleship. Balancing our desire for a church that meets our and others' needs as mentioned earlier, and our habits of discipleship means preparing ourselves by doing simple acts of discipleship: come to church regularly, attend Sunday school, go to the Walk to Emmaus, participate in small groups, in Marriage Encounter, bible study whenever it is offered. Become a giver—not just at church, but practice random acts of generosity--watch for opportunities to to be a blessing to others!

Balance in this area of life is critical to who you are, and to how others see you. Our actions and often our circumstances come out of habits we have cultivated. Has anyone here recently received a speeding ticket? Was that the first time you sped, or the first time you got caught? That ticket was most likely result of a habit you have developed.

Make sharing the love of Christ a habit in your life. Make the most of the opportunities that come to you every day.