St. Paul’s Sermon 2004

The Eighteenth Sunday of Pentecost - October 3, 2004

Lessons: Habakkuk 1:1–4; 2:1–4; 2 Tim. 1:1–14; Luke 17: 5–10

“Radical Discipleship”

Intro:

Tools- work well if you use them for what they were created for.

I) Gospel Text- Difficult- Master-Servants

A) “Doulos” - servant

Strict relationship- defined

Long-term=generations

Less to do with Uncle Tom’s Cabin than butler?

“Saturnalia”- traded places

Many early Christians- tell by names in NT

B) Slavery in Rome

- 1/3rd to ½ people of Rome were Douloi

- Got there- family tradition; entered in; kidnapped; abandoned babies; poor-entered covenant

- Covenant

-Worked for families, businesses, trades, government

-Long-term beneficial relationship; generations.

C) More like how we’d see “employees” or “workers”

II) Jesus and Paul- Christians are “douloi”- servants-

Jesus is Lord- servant’s ownership

A) Totally negative idea today- but 1/3 to ½ of people lived in this condition- like workers today

Do we have such a thing today? Arguable- who owns us? The bank? Our job? Our mortgage? 2000 years of cultural change- but we’re still owned.

Harvey McKay- says we’re all going to be fired- stats- change careers nine times in lifetime- corporations/bosses don’t take care- can be hostile

B) Master= really good boss.

Jesus is Lord- will care for us-

Imagine the perfect boss.

security - every decision is made on YOUR behalf

A Boss you could trust with all your self.

III) Servant- Slave- called to be of use to your Good Master- make a difference-

“Master- increase our faith!” - Jesus gives non-sequitur- “If you had faith the grain of a mustard seed- you’d say-“ go do it! See what happens! Put it to work!

Why? We’re the workers of the king-

In the beginning- Gen 1:26-27 created to serve in his place- representation-

Now, with the Holy Spirit inside the believer- this can happen again-

“God inside to lead and guide-“ - Image of God recreated in us- Christ the Image of God- comes inside of us and is perfected in us- to do work- to use our lives creating God’s will on this planet.

1 Cor. 12:4-6

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. [5] There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. [6] There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

three pairs:

gifts-Spirit

service-Lord

working-God

God creates you to be the person he created you to be by filling you with his Spirit

- not to make you critical;

-not to make you feel important

-nor to lord it over others with your “spiritualness”

-nor to make you feel good

-to make you happy

- make you powerful

- give you cool magic powers

No- to put you to work- to make you his tool, his servant, his representation- to make you to do exactly what he created you to do and be!

Remember Purpose Driven Life?

-discover what you were created to do and be-

long-term goals- heaven as our target-

Holy Spirit given & you created as Christian-

to be a servant & be truly free-

Things work best if you’re the tool God created to be- used by God to fix the world.

Paradox-

When you serve Christ with all your heart your heart you are truly free

When you serve yourself you end up in bondage;

Only God can put you where you need to be-

The good boss- who always looks out only for your good-

Servanthood- hard to understand today- source of your life.

You can trust him- Amen.

October 3, 2004 –Pentecost 18

Habakkuk 1:1–4; 2:1–4

2 Tim. 1:1–14

Luke 17: 5–10

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1–4

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, O LORD, must I call for help,

but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright--but the righteous will live by his faith--

2 Tim. 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "