John 1:43-51

 

One day last week, I was relaxing in my chair, doing something very important on my iPad. By the way, Angry Birds is awesome on an iPad! Anyway, I was focused and diligently working when Ryan, our 3-year old, came running into the room. In a very excited, breathless voice, he was yelling, “Dad, come see! Dad, come see! Come and see, Daddy!”

 

Now, from experience, I know that when Ryan is that excited about something which he did, it’s never good. And besides, I really wasn’t all that interested in what Ryan wanted to show me because I was very busy. But Ryan was relentless, and was tugging on my sleeve, so I got up and went with him.

 

Now, Ryan has these toys called “Rescue Bots,” which are kind of like Transformers, but are mostly police officers, fire fighters, and rescue workers. And what Ryan wanted to show me was that he got all of his Recue Bots together and lined them up all by himself, right in a row at the Prime Fire Station headquarters.

 

I asked him what they were doing, and Ryan replied, “Chase (one of the Rescue Bots) found the bad guys, but they were beating him up. So the other Rescue Bots came to help him get the bad guys. Isn’t it cooool Daddy?”

 

Well, I suppose cool it is, especially in light of our continuing series today on being connected. We’ve already discussed being connected in priorities and purpose, and today we’ll see what it’s like to be connected to people through the calling of Nathaniel to be a disciple of Jesus. Our scripture is in John chapter one, verses 43-51. We pick up in John shortly after Jesus had been baptized, and as he is now beginning to call his disciples to follow him.

 

Have you ever considered Jesus’ followers? It’s interesting to see who Jesus chooses as disciples: fishermen, tax collector, physician, zealot—people from a wide range of backgrounds who, aside from being together to follow Jesus, would probably never have traveled in the same circles or have known each other at all. Ministry, for Jesus, was always about being around people. You never see Jesus being a Harry Potter or someone who, from afar, casts his magical incantation to make things happen. People are important and of great worth to Jesus. His ministry was always about people and for people. Bringing people together and building them into a community in order to be a mighty force for God’s kingdom. Somehow God always seems to put these things together.

 

It’s no coincidence then, that today we are exploring how God views people during a week which included International Human Trafficing Day, and today, which is Sanctity of Life Sunday, and tomorrow being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. You see, it’s all about people, and their worth as human beings. You see, no matter what a person’s background, or their circumstances, or skin color or talents or accent, all people are of value in God’s eyes.

 

And we are called to be and to live and to work together in community to glorify God. As Christians, we work with one another to carry out the Great Commission- to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And to do this, we need each other in order to learn, to grow, to work, to love. For we are the body of Christ- each member has a different function, but we all work together for the same purpose.

 

As Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.” (1 Cor. 12:27-28) In other words, everyone has a place in the Body. In Christ, we each find a sense of calling, both individually and as a community. We come together as one with one purpose, one vision, which is to serve the Lord for his purposes. And his purposes are for us to CARE, SHARE and PREPARE to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

Christ calls people from all backgrounds: fisherman, tax collector, butcher, baker, drummer, whatever. And while we may sometimes feel unqualified or ill-equipped to do God’s work, we need to remember that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.

 

Look at Nathaniel: he seems to be a bit of a skeptic, or perhaps his glass is always half empty. Because in verse 45, when an excited Philip comes to him and says, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”, what is Nathaniel’s reaction? “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Wow, what a kill-joy!

 

But in Philip’s excitement and enthusiasm, he is not deterred. And when Nathanael says, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip answers him, "Come and see." Just come and see. It was as simple as that, and Nathaniel came and he saw. He saw that Jesus knew him—really, intimately knew him—and wanted Nathaniel to be one of his followers.

 

Who among us here today, if standing face-to-face with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, would not shudder at the thought of his knowing all about you—your faults, your weaknesses, your failings and your sins? How would Jesus view us? Yet, Jesus accepted Nathaniel, and Nathaniel found that Jesus had a plan for him in this life and in the next life as well. And Jesus accepts us, just as we are, and has exciting plans for you and me too: to build his kingdom here on earth.

 

Both as individuals, and more importantly, corporately as a congregation, we’ve been called to this awesome endeavor. But the question is, do we respond to the call with the excitement and enthusiasm of Philip, or do we hem and haw and make excuses like Nathaniel did at first. Have we lost the enthusiasm of a three-year-old who rushes in and says of Jesus, “Come and See”?

 

You see, St. Paul’s, as a congregation, is moving forward in our mission and purpose in 2012, and it is something to see! Tomorrow evening the Church Council will be working to approve a ministry investment budget for the year, so that we can all take our ideas and energy to the streets as the hands and feet of Christ. In the days ahead, we are going to have planning meetings to discuss what we will do in the new year, the next three to five years and maybe even longer than that. And at the end of this month I’ll share with you our dreams and goals for this year, and how, working together, we can make those dreams a reality.

 

Our ministry, our calling, is like the old acronym TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. If we have just a few who are excited, just a few who are willing to tell the story of Jesus Christ then we will have a small fire. But if everyone here, if everyone will share the excitement of what Jesus is doing in the world, we will build a fire for Christ that will cause the Fire Department to call out the reserves and bring in help from all over Monmouth and Ocean Counties! But it will only happen if we are all connected, if we could, like the twelve disciples living in a remote area half a world away, work together, pulling in the same direction for the same cause, then we could build something for Christ worth seeing. And each one of us has a part in this.

Now listen, I know that some of you were jealous when the kids during the Children’s Time got to play with Legos, but don’t you fret, I didn’t forget you. Let me ask the ushers to pass out a Lego to everyone here. Now, as they do that, look at your Lego. It’s nice, it’s shiny. But what can you do with it? Perhaps you can use it as a tie tac, or a paper weight for very small papers; you may be able to flick it at your neighbor (don’t do it!) or maybe put it on a chain and wear it as jewelry.

 

Legos are just like us as individuals, we have some use, some potentiality, and for some folks, that’s enough. But do this: turn to the person sitting next to you or nearby, and connect your Lego to theirs. Now the possibilities have expanded; there are different configurations. And if you connected with more neighbors, you could be even more creative with even more possibilities and the excitement and the enthusiasm will build. Ideas will flow, plans will be made, action will be taken, and the Lego’s purpose will be fulfilled. And if we are the Legos and we work together, we will build Christ’s church (show photo on screen). But it’s important to know why we are doing what we’re doing, that we are serving Christ, not just trying to maintain a building or a legacy.

 

The story is told of a man who was taking a walk down a country lane, when he came across a stone quarry in which a number of men were working. He questioned several of them about what they were doing. The first replied irritably, ‘Can’t you see? I’m hewing a stone.’ The second answered without looking up, ‘I’m earning $300 a week.’ But when the same question was put to the third man, he stopped, put his pick down, stood up, stuck out his chest and said, ‘If you want to know what I’m doing, I’m building a magnificent cathedral.’

 

So it is with us. When we are working for God but focused on ourselves, we only see what is in front of us, and there is no joy. But when we are connected and we work together, we work with joy and as a team, we will build something magnificent for God. And we’ll do so with the enthusiasm of a three-year-old Ryan who says to everyone, “Come and see!”

 

My friends, as I said, in a couple of weeks we will share forth the vision for St. Paul’s ministry in 2012. We will celebrate those who have brought us this far, and we will encourage those who are leading us from here. We will share our dreams, our goals, our plans.

 

In the mean time, I want you to figure out where you fit in those dreams, how God is calling you to serve. And in preparation I want all of us to be in God’s Word, I want the St. Paul’s church family to be in prayer for the vision and mission of the church, and her leadership, myself included. And I also want you to be in prayer that God would have you be open to the Spirit’s leading, showing you just which piece of the Lego puzzle you are, and where you fit into the glorious plan. In fact, keep your Lego piece in your pocket or somewhere at home where you can see it as a constant reminder of Christ’s call on your life.

 

And then plug in, get connected, be a part of the community, and come along for the exciting ride!