Goldliness or Godliness

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, September 26, 2010.  The text for this week's message was 1 Timothy 6:6-19.

We’ve spent the majority of this month working through Paul’s first letter to Timothy.  There are several things that we can walk away knowing as we read this letter.  In 1 Timothy 1 we saw Paul give thanks to Jesus for empowering him for ministry, counting him faithful to fulfill that ministry and appointing him to ministry.  We saw that this call to ministry wasn’t reserved just for Paul, but it is for all people.  All who follow Jesus Christ are called to ministry in one form or another.  It is up to us to be faithful to that call in our own lives.

Last week, we continued on the theme of a call to ministry, and came to see, what I believe without a doubt, is our call as a congregation, and that is to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.  I know a lot of what we talked about last week may have been hard to hear because it causes us to really examine what we are doing as a congregation.  We have to take a step back and wonder out loud what it is that we are doing, and does that help us reach others with the message of Jesus Christ.  If we are not focused on that goal, then we run the risk of creating a culture that is unwelcoming to those who aren’t already a part of the “in crowd.”

Today we move from a corporate focus to a more individual focus.  What we are looking at is pretty much the end of Paul’s first letter to Timothy.  In this section, we see a warning and a charge to Timothy as he continues to lead the people of the church at Ephesus.  Before we dive right into what he is saying in chapter 6, let’s get a better idea as to why he says it.

As I mentioned last week, one of the issues that Paul faced as he was fulfilling his ministry across the Roman Empire, was the presence of false teachers who would come in after him and teach a different doctrine than what Paul was teaching.  As we read today’s section, it seems as though Paul’s opponents are teaching that godliness is the best way to acquire wealth.  In describing some of their teaching in verse 5, Paul says that they imagine “godliness is a means of gain.”  Unfortunately, this teaching did not end with Paul’s opponents in the first century.  This teaching still exists today, and it poses a significant problem for the church.

This teaching is called many things today, but the most popular term is prosperity gospel.  The prosperity gospel teaches that God blesses his followers with material possessions.  While it is prominent in some strands of Pentecostal churches, it is not fair to say that all Pentecostals teach this type of theology.  It cuts across all denominations.  The major suggestion that comes through in most prosperity gospel teaching is that if you follow God, God will bless you, and you will be wealthy.  And it’s not spiritual wealth that they are talking about, but the bottom line in your bank account, material wealth.

I’m not going to go into detail about the different figures that represent this type of teaching.  The reason I bring it up is because that’s what Paul is talking about.  This type of theology is exactly what Paul is speaking against in the first place as he writes Timothy in today’s passage.  In the opening paragraph of today’s reading, Paul tells us that there is great gain in godliness with contentment; notice the qualifier there.  Being content with what you have is very different than saying that godliness leads to great gain.

Paul reminds us that we came into this world with nothing, and that there is nothing we can take out of it when we go.  That’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s one that we lose sight of from time to time.  I came across a story this week of a very wealthy man who had passed away.  At his funeral, one of the people leaned over to a friend and said, “How much did he leave?”  The friend looked at him and said, “How much did he leave?  He left all of it.”

I know I haven’t done a whole lot of funerals in my three years as a pastor, so maybe Tom/Halsey can help me with this, but I’ve never seen a moving truck as part of a funeral procession.  Have you?  We say it all the time, “You can’t it with you,” but sometimes I think we forget.  If we are never content with what we have, then that is the first sign that maybe we are being driven by something besides the will of God for our lives.

Paul says in verse 9, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”  First off, the word that is translated as “desire” refers to a deliberate determination.  In other words, it is something that is plotted, planned out; something that becomes the focus.  I want you to do something real quick: hold out your hand in front of your face.  Focus on your palm.  While you are focusing on your palm, what else can you see?  You can’t really see anything else.  You’ve got a vague idea of what is going on around you, but you don’t really know.

If your desire to be rich causes all of your focus to be put into the pursuit of worldly possessions, then you’re missing out on a whole lot.  And that’s what Paul is saying here.  Those who desire to be rich fall into a trap.  You can’t see a trap if you aren’t paying attention to where you are going.  Paul says that those who desire to be rich fall into senseless and harmful desires.  What is really ironic about what Paul is saying here is that the word for “senseless” can also mean “foolish,” and it carries with it the idea of one who does not apply his/her mind to what is happening.  So what he is saying here is that if you have a deliberate determination to pursue wealth in your life, you are not truly applying your mind to what is happening around you.

Paul warns Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil.  Hear that again: the love of money is the root of all evil.  Too many times people will take this verse and chop it up to say that money is the root of all evil.  But money itself is about as evil as the pew that you are sitting in right now.  Money is an inanimate object.  It neither has positive nor negative value apart from our motives.  But our desire, our deliberate determination to acquire money, can cause us to do all sorts of evil things.

Think about all the financial scandals we have seen over the past several years: Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff, Enron, and the list goes on.  These are individuals and companies whose pursuit and love of money lead them into traps.  Unfortunately, there have been several churches that have been hit by these kinds of illegal pursuits of money as well.  And here is Paul, warning Timothy of what will happen if the love of money gets in the way of more important things in life.  So what is Paul’s advice to Timothy in this instance?  Flee.

Paul tells Timothy to run away; to avoid these things.  He gives Timothy the charge to flee from the dangers and snares of this world; to not be caught up in pursuing things that will not last.  He tells Timothy to flee from these things, and to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  He tells Timothy to flee from the things of this world, and pursue the eternal things of God.

We can’t just run away from things in this life.  We are always chasing something.  The key to chase something that is worthwhile.  Paul tells Timothy to pursue six things.  And these six things are not going to make you wealthy, in a financial sense.  But in a much more important way, these things will bring you a spiritual wealth that can never be taken, not even by death.  When you look at your life, are you rich in the things of this world, but poor in the things of God?  Or are you content with what God has given you, and do you pursue the things of God?

Paul’s charge extends beyond Timothy in the final paragraph, and what he tells Timothy applies to us in our lives as well.  He tells Timothy to instruct those who are rich in this present age to not be arrogant about it.  Do not be filled with pride because of your material possessions.  Don’t set your hopes on the things that you have been able to acquire in this world.  You don’t hear people talking about the salvation they received from their bank accounts.  Our material possessions have absolutely no bearing on our eternal life.  So why have pride in them?  Rather, place your hope in God.

God is the one who provides us with what we need.  We don’t have to worry about our well being because God will give us what we need.  We just have to remember that God’s view of what we need may not always match up with our view.  And this is where contentment comes back into the picture.  Contentment comes when we put all of our faith in God, knowing that He will provide.  When we have that kind of faith, we are no longer concerned with what we have, but our focus becomes what can we do for the glory of God.

As we wrap up this morning, I do want to make something clear.  I’m not standing up here today telling everybody that they need to give more to the church.  That’s not the point, so don’t go away thinking that this morning.  The point is: God provides.  Our society teaches us to rely on our personal wealth and to pursue stuff in this life.  Paul is teaching us to rely on the one who gives us everything we have in the first place.

Your giving to the church is a matter of personal discipleship.  What I’m trying to do today, by reading what Paul is saying to Timothy, is challenge you to rethink what it means to be wealthy, and what it means to be content with what God has given you in this life.  There are more important things than the bottom line.  Pursue them.  Pursue godliness in your life and flee from the temptation to believe the saying, “He who has the most toys wins.”  Because there is no victory in that.  Our only victory is in Jesus Christ.

That All May Know

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, September 19, 2010.  The text for this week's message is 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Last week, we looked at Paul’s understanding of ministry.  Ministry is for all people.  All who have decided to follow Jesus are called to be in ministry.  Ministry is not just for an elite few.  Ministry is not just for those who have gone to school for it.  Ministry is not just for the “professionals.”  In the Scripture we looked at last week, Paul gives thanks for three things: that Jesus has empowered him for ministry, judged him faithful and appointed him to service.  As people who are called to ministry, we should all be intentional about giving ourselves fully to the tasks that God has entrusted to us.

This week, we really get to the heart of what ministry is all about.  Paul moves into it by beginning with what may be perceived as a controversial statement.  He begins by saying that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be made for all people.  He lists several different types of prayer here.  These are very general categories of prayer focusing on our personal needs, on God’s ability to meet those needs, on others and on giving thanks.  Paul says that we need to be praying for all people.

And just so we don’t think that Paul is telling us that we only have to pray for certain people, he writes that we need to pray for “kings and all who are in high positions.”  Now, I don’t know what your political persuasion is, and really, it doesn’t matter to me, but are you praying for those in office?  Are you praying for those who are in high positions?

So much of our political rhetoric today has to do with where this person is falling short, or where that person is messing things up.  It’s very divisive.  But do you pray for the Obama Administration?  And I don’t mean that you pray they get voted out of office soon.  On the flip side, did you pray for the Bush Administration?  And I don’t mean that you thanked God when it was over.  Paul tells us to pray for kings and all who are in high positions, not just the ones that we like, and not just the ones that we agree with.  Let’s put this in perspective here.

Do you know who the people in high positions were when Paul was writing this letter?  The Romans.  Do you know who the Roman emperor was when Paul was writing this letter?  Nero.  Now, maybe you aren’t familiar with Roman history, and that’s all right, but for some reason you may think that you’ve heard that name before.  And it is because Nero was one of the worst men to have ever been emperor of Rome.

In 64 A.D. a great fire destroyed much of Rome, and it was rumored that Nero set the first in order to make room for expansion of his palace.  It was said that Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned.  Not very many surviving sources have a lot of good things to say about Nero.  He was known for persecuting the early church.  It was during Nero’s reign as emperor that both Peter and Paul were killed for their faith.

And yet, Paul tells Timothy to pray for him.  Pray for those for whom you have no desire to pray, and you’ll start to understand what Paul is talking about here.  Because it doesn’t matter that they seem too far-gone.  It doesn’t matter what they have done to you, or what you think they have done, pray for those who are in high positions.  I know that is a lot easier said than done, but as you pray, you may find that God is working in your heart in ways that you didn’t know He needed to.  Lift up all people to the Lord, and in doing so, your heart will be molded into one that chases after God’s will in your life.

Paul goes on to talk about why we should pray for them.  We pray so that we may lead a “peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”  There’s really a twofold purpose here.  First, a peaceful and quiet life.  A peaceful and quiet life is a life that is unaffected by the turmoil that surrounds it.  To have a peaceful and quiet life, means that we are not ruled by our circumstances.  It means that we have peace within, and we are at peace with the world around us.  Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of wholeness.

Second, we pray for others so that our lives may be godly and dignified in every way.  What does that mean?  I wish I could remember who said it, but someone much wiser than me once said, “For some people, you may be the only Bible they read.”  When our outward lives are shaped by our inward prayer life, then we are setting an example worthy of the name we carry as Christ followers.  We must always set an example of what it means to be godly and dignified.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t let loose and have a good time.  It means we live our lives in the joy of the Lord.  We don’t seek out things that are contrary to God.  We don’t seek out things that go against who God has made us to be.  We live our lives to the fullest, and we do so for the glory of God.

In this section, Paul is building up to something huge.  He tells us to pray for all people, even those who we would least like to pray for.  He tells us to set an example in our lives, and example that would give people reason to look at our lives and see something significant within them.  And then he tells us some of the most important information that we could ever hear: that God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  He gives us our call here.  He gives us our purpose here.  He lets us know who we are supposed to be.

We are called to ministry so that others may come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  How that looks for every individual is different; however, we are called into ministry so that all may know the truth.  The truth is very simple.  It is the core message of Scripture.  One place it is found is in verses 5-6 of today’s passage: there is one mediator, one go-between, one intermediary between God and humanity, and that one is Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all.

It’s said in different ways as we read through the New Testament.  Acts 4:12 says it this way, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  In a culture that says, “I’m okay, you’re okay,” this will be an unpopular message, but the simple truth of the gospel is that the only way that we are to enter into a saving relationship with the Almighty God is by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Paul saw that, and his ministry was to share that message with people who the Jews tried to avoid at all costs.

One of the problems that Paul constantly encountered on his missionary journeys, and it was one of the reasons why he wrote this letter to Timothy in the first place, was a group of people who taught that the Gentiles had to first convert to Judaism before they could follow Christ.  Part of the reason why Paul is emphasizing the role of Jesus as the one mediator between God and humanity was because it wasn’t necessary to be Jewish to be saved.  If that were the case, then the Jewish people would be the mediators, not Jesus.  There is nothing about a single group of people that makes them the gatekeepers to God.  Jesus is the sole go-between.  Let’s bring this into our current surroundings now.

You may need to brace yourself for this, but hear me out.  This is not your church.  I know that I’ve just secretly made half of you angry, but let’s think about this for a minute.  Paul’s ministry was about bringing the message of the gospel to the Gentiles.  The Jewish people were not fond of Paul doing this, but they were not the ones who decided who was allowed to be saved by God’s grace.  This is not your church because you are not the divinely appointed gatekeeper.  This is not your church; this is not my church; this is God’s church.  God is the one who decides who is saved by His grace, and if we listen to what Paul has to say here, then God desires that all be saved.

The more I thought about this passage, and the more I prayed about where it is that God is leading us as a congregation, the more I saw that this is it.  We are not called to be an inwardly focused gathering of believers, but we are called to reach people with the message of Jesus Christ.  It sounds a little too simple, doesn’t it?  There’s nothing complicated about that call.  There’s no grand mission statement, or core values, or catchphrase that we can put on a cool bumper sticker, when we look at that purpose.  It’s a simple, matter-of-fact statement: we exist so that all may know the truth of Jesus Christ.  We exist so that those who are far from him may hear the truth, the message of salvation; that they may draw close to him; and that they may enter into a saving relationship with him.

If we aren’t doing that as a congregation, if we aren’t bringing people to know Jesus Christ and we barely know him ourselves, then we might as well just close the doors and go out for pizza once a week.  A church is not a social club.  A church is not an outlet for community service.  A church is a gathering of believers who come to praise God and who exist to bring others to Jesus Christ.  Everything we do as a church should be done so that others may come to know Jesus.

Fellowship is great.  But are we welcoming “outsiders” into our fellowship?  Service to the community is fantastic.  But are we reaching others with the good news of Jesus Christ in the midst of our service?  Sunday school is crucial.  But are we incorporating what we have learned into our daily lives?  Worship helps us to hear from God.  But are we really listening to what He is saying?

As a congregation, we have to make the conscious decision to share the gospel with those around us.  Because, if we don’t, we will not continue to exist as a congregation.  I’m sorry to say that but it’s true.  It may not be for 20 years; it may not be for another 50 years, but if we don’t decide to reach out to others with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, we are making the decision to close the doors… eventually.

I believe that churches go through cycles.  At some point in that cycle, there comes a decision that is going to effect whether that church goes up for the next cycle, or spirals downward for the next cycle.  A church that decides not to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus makes the decision to spiral downward.  If that church makes the same decision long enough, then it has created a culture that continues to spiral downward until there’s nothing left.

I’m not a big numbers person.  I know that there are always reasons behind the numbers, but those sitting here this morning know that these pews weren’t as roomy twenty-five years ago.  There are always reasons.  People pass away.  People move out of the area.  We can come up with all kinds of reasons, but the bottom line is that there are still a lot of people in this community that don’t go to church anywhere.  I haven’t seen the statistics, but I’d be willing to say that easily half the people in this town don’t go to church at all, and don’t have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We have to decide to reach these people, or we are deciding that there’s still not enough elbowroom in the pews.

Learning From Paul

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, September 12, 2010.  The text for this week's message is 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

Today we are beginning with the first of three weeks that we will be spending in Paul’s first letter to Timothy.  During these messages, we are going to walk away with some advice from Paul.  Paul was a mentor to Timothy, and what we are reading is a personal letter to Timothy.  We get an idea of who Paul is, and we begin to see what ministry is all about.  Today’s passage in particular is about Paul’s approach to ministry in the first place.  We are going to get some of his thoughts on the subject and see how we can apply it to our lives right here, right now. To begin, though, let’s get an important question out of the way - who is Timothy?

Timothy is first introduced in Acts 16.  Paul is traveling throughout the Mediterranean, and meets Timothy in Lystra.  Timothy’s mother was Jewish and a believer in Jesus Christ, and his father was Greek.  Immediately, we see Timothy traveling with Paul, strengthening the faith of the churches throughout Greece.  As we continue through Acts, we see that Timothy is entrusted with a lot of responsibility.  He is often left or sent places to continue Paul’s ministry in that place.  He was a young man, but his faith was strong and Paul entrusted him with a great deal of spiritual leadership.

As we read through some of Paul’s other letters, Timothy is mentioned several times.  He is referred to as Paul’s “fellow worker.”  Paul calls him “my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.”  He spreads the gospel of Christ, strengthening and encouraging the churches that have been founded throughout modern-day Greece and Turkey.  Timothy is not just some random person that just so happens to be mentioned one time in the New Testament.  Timothy is a central figure in missionary endeavors throughout the Mediterranean.

Paul is writing to Timothy, his co-worker and successor in ministry, because he has left Timothy in charge of the church in Ephesus, where there were false teachers who were teaching doctrine contrary to the gospel.  We can learn from Paul’s interaction with Timothy.  While this is certainly a personal letter, there are some principles that apply in our lives as well.  

At the beginning of today’s section, Paul gives thanks for three things.  First, that Jesus has given him strength.  Second, that Jesus has judged him faithful.  Third, that Jesus has appointed him to service.  Let’s take a look at those three things.

First, Paul gives thanks because Jesus has strengthened him.  What does he mean by that?  The word translated “to strengthen” can also mean “to enable.”  So, what Paul is saying is that Jesus has enabled, or has empowered, him to be in ministry.  We talked a couple weeks ago that God has called all people to ministry.  If you have decided to follow Jesus, then you are responding to a call to ministry.  And if you’re thinking, “Well, there’s no way that God has called me to ministry, look at the things that I’ve done in my life,” then you need to pay extra attention to today’s message.  We’ll talk about that in more detail in a bit, but here’s the thing that we want to focus on for now: Paul is empowered for this ministry.

Paul was a very well educated man.  He basically had his PhD in Judaism.  However, that was all put aside when he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.  The path that Paul’s life was on was dramatically altered.  He was no longer a zealous Jew who persecuted the early Church.  He was a follower of Jesus Christ, who was set apart for a particular ministry – a ministry to the Gentiles.

He didn’t go to school to learn how to fulfill this ministry.  Realistically, nobody had done this before.  Jewish people didn’t actively seek out Gentiles with whom to share the message of God’s grace.  Jewish people tried as hard as they could to not associate with Gentiles at all.  There was nobody to teach him how to do this type of ministry, and he didn’t need there to be.  Paul was filled by the Holy Spirit, called to ministry by God, and empowered by God to do that ministry.  

Do you know what you need to do in order to fulfill the ministry to which God is calling you?  You need to draw close to Him.  A relationship is worth nothing if we don’t do our part in it.  We need to spend time reading the Word and praying.  We need to listen to what it is that God is trying to say to us throughout the day.  God never speaks to us in one way.  God’s call comes in a variety of ways, just so we don’t miss it.  Listen for that call in your life.  Like Paul, we are empowered to do ministry.  The ministry to which God calls us will not look like Paul’s.  It will be tailored to who God has designed us to be.  Like Paul, we need to remember to give thanks that God has empowered us for ministry.

Second, Paul gives thanks because Jesus judged him faithful.  Again, the Greek carries a lot more weight than our translation.  Jesus didn’t just look at Paul and say, “Okay, you’ll do.”  The word implies a carefully considered course of action that takes into account all of the various issues that are at stake.  In other words, when Paul was called to ministry, it wasn’t just a flippant, off-hand act.  God intentionally called Paul into ministry.

In spite of Paul’s persecution of the church, one thing could never be called into question: his faithfulness.  Now, I know that may sound like a strange thing to say about a man who was the equivalent of a bull in a china shop for the early Church.  Paul refers to himself as a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent, so how can he possibly say that Jesus has judged him faithful?  Paul recognized that there was something at work within him, in spite of the evil deeds that he was doing.  That something was God’s grace.

God’s grace and the love of Jesus Christ were so powerful in Paul’s life that he had a complete turn around.  He is no longer a persecutor of the Christian faith, but he is its biggest evangelist and the most prolific writer in the New Testament, and it is only by God’s grace that this is the case.  Paul was judged faithful because of his response to the mercy, grace and love that were injected into his life when he experienced the risen Christ.

For those who think that God can’t possibly use you in ministry, take a look at Paul’s story - from persecutor to proponent, from enemy to evangelist, from wretch to redeemed.  That’s Paul’s story, and there might be something in it that resonates with your story.  Do you feel like God can’t use you?  You are wrong.  God used Paul in some unbelievable ways – so much so that we are still talking about it, nearly two thousand years after Paul was martyred for his faith.

How do we respond to the grace of God at work in our lives?  By giving thanks.  By devoting our lives to draw closer and closer to Him.  By going out of our way if we have to in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ.  Above all, we are called to be faithful.  That means not turning away after pursuits that do not fall in line with the kingdom of God.  We read over and over again throughout Scripture of the need to turn away from the things that pull us away from God.  Being judged faithful is about putting away the old self and embracing the new life that we have in Jesus Christ.  Like Paul, we need to remember to give thanks that Jesus has judged us faithful.

Third, Paul gives thanks because Jesus has appointed him to service.  How’s that for a different perspective?  Typically, when we think about doing things for the church, I imagine that more than a handful of people start to get a little anxious.  They are worried about what God is going to call them to which will force them out of their comfort zone.  Being appointed to the service of Jesus Christ is not something that should make us anxious.  We should be excited because we will finally have an opportunity to do what it is that we have been called to do.  We finally have the opportunity to be who we are supposed to be.  That’s not nerve-wracking.  That’s exciting.

There’s an old saying, “Find what you love to do.  Find somebody to pay you for it, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”  If we love what we are doing, then there’s a good chance that God can use us in ministry in that area.  If you aren’t good at something, then that’s probably not where God is calling you to ministry.  I listen to a lot of podcasts on my iPod, and one of the podcasts I have to come back to from time to time talks about the myth of the well-rounded individual.  There’s this idea in our society that we have to be balanced individuals; that we should work on our weaknesses in order to get stronger.  But is this really true?  Should we avoid honing our strengths in order to beef up our weaknesses?

Think about it this way: if Randy Johnson spent more time working on his hitting, do you think he would have been a 10-time All Star with over 300 career wins, nearly 5,000 strikeouts and 5 Cy Young Awards?  Absolutely not.  Hitting wasn’t his strength, and he didn’t need it to be because he was a phenomenal pitcher.  I can guarantee you that Albert Pujols doesn’t practice his pitching.  He works on his hitting and defense.  As a result, he’s won 3 MVP’s and a Gold Glove.  They hone their strengths so that they can become the best at what they do.  The same should be said for those of us in the church.

If you get so worked up about public speaking that you can’t stand even the thought of doing it, then maybe God hasn’t called you to preach, and that’s all right.  If you love to cook, then maybe God is calling you to use those talents to further His kingdom.  Where are your strengths in ministry?  What do you get excited about, and what are you good at when it comes to serving others?  Instead of fretting over where God has called us to ministry, we should take a cue from Paul and rejoice in the fact that Jesus has appointed us to his service.  God is going to call us to be who we are, where we are and to serve those He has placed in our lives.  Like Paul, we should give thanks to God because He has appointed us to His service.  So, how does this all come together?

Next week, we are going to take a few minutes during worship to fill out a leadership inquiry.  We are coming up on a time when we are going to start taking a look at the leadership for this congregation for the upcoming year.  This is going to be your opportunity to think about the areas where you have served in this congregation, and the areas where you might like to serve.  

I won’t make any promises that just because you put down that you’d like to be on a particular committee that you will end up on that committee.  We have a nominations committee that will be getting together to help make those decisions, and that’s why the spiritual gifts inventories were so important.  We want to be able to match your gifts with an outlet for ministry that you will be excited about and that will see you thrive in what God is calling you to do.

Jesus counts us faithful to fulfill the ministries that he has entrusted to us.  We discern this in the midst of community.  If and when you are approached about taking part in the ministries of this church in a specific way, I hope that you will take the time to pray about it.  I hope that you realize we don’t need to just fill slots in our leadership roster, we need people to step up and fulfill the call to ministry that God has in their lives.  Nominations time is not a dreadful time; it’s a joyful time in which we can respond to God’s call right here, right now.

There is so much more that we can learn from today’s passage, but I think that is enough for this morning.  If we learn nothing else from Paul, we should walk away this morning knowing that God has called us to serve in His kingdom.  This isn’t a scary call.  Responding to this call means that we are fulfilling our purpose in life.  God is the one who created us.  Who better for us to listen to when it comes to the great question in life – why am I here?

As we read again and again what Paul has to say to Timothy in this passage, we would do well to realize that this isn’t just a private conversation between two guys.  It is a call to ministry.  It is a call to respond to what God has in store for each one of us.  It is full of lessons that are important for each one of us as we move forward in our journey of faith.