Genesis 6:9, 14, 22, Jonah 3:1-2, Luke 5:10-11

“Bon Voyage”

Today, we bring to an end our series of sermons where we have been thinking of the life that God calls us to as “a Voyage”. We’ve learned that the Church is like “a ship” and that we are called to be God’s Ark of salvation, where people can find hope and where we can sail on this journey together. And we’ve learned that in order to experience the life that God intends for us, we begin by letting Jesus Christ be the Captain of our ship and we surrender the helm to him.

And then we learned that somewhere along our journey of faith, we are not simply called to receive blessings from God and the Church, but rather, we are called to give. We decide at some point that we will move from being “passengers” on God’s ship, to becoming part of “the Crew”. And so, we offer ourselves to the Lord for his service.

And then, we learned that this ship that we take on this voyage of life is not a “one-person boat”, but instead, it requires a whole company of crew members. We learned that to successfully journey to the far side of the sea, where we will meet Jesus face to face one day, we all need to work together. We need one another as “companions” and as “helpers” in Christ. We learned that we need to be in relationships and in small groups with other Christians, where we bear one another’s burdens, care for one another, hold one another accountable, and work together. We learned that we all have different gifts and abilities, and we are supposed to use these gifts together.

Today, I want to wrap this up with just a couple of basic ideas on how we can have a good voyage … a “Bon Voyage” and how we can experience the life that God intends for us to experience.

But first, let me remind you of the goal of the Christian life and the goal of our Church. On the front of your bulletins, you see our current mission statement, which says that “Our mission is to build a Christian Community that is seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” And you’d be right to ask the question, “What does a disciple of Jesus Christ look like?” I mean, if this is what we’re aiming toward, then we ought to have some idea of what this looks like.

And there are many analogies that might help us to visualize this, but I want to give the analogy of a stool with three legs. If you are going to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are going to have to develop all three of these legs. The first is the Head; the second is the Heart; the third is the Hands. It is the idea that we are going to “know” and “love” and “serve” God in all three of these dimensions. And of course, all three of these dimensions are integrated together.

Our aim for you is that you become theologically informed. We want you to understand the Bible. We want you to understand the historical and cultural context, and what it meant when the writers were writing it. We want you to know how to interpret what the Scriptures say to our lives today. So that, when you talk with someone who has a different understanding of the Bible, we want you to be able to accurately explain to them what you believe as a United Methodist Christian. We want you to understand “theology” … how God works in our world. We want you to know about “Christian ethics” … how you can apply your faith to making decisions in life. We want you to bring your mind and engage it with matters of faith. We don’t want you to check your brain at the doors of this church. We want you to take notes, to think, to question, and to grow cognitively in the faith.

But we also want you to engage “your heart” in the faith. We want you to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that is utterly transforming. Our relationships with people change us. Likewise, our relationship with God has the capacity to change us from the inside out. So, we want you to have the kind of relationship with God, where you are constantly growing in your love and trust of God, and you’re experiencing the presence of God in your heart, so that you are experiencing the power of God transforming your life.

And then finally, we want you to serve God with “your hands”. We want you to be about doing God’s work, recognizing that you are God’s hands in this world and that God has a mission for your life. We are meant to be serving and doing things for God. So, we are constantly offering opportunities for you to step out and serve God. And our hope is, that you will grow in your acts of service, so that finally, you are living a bold and courageous life for God, serving Him.

Our hope is that you will be growing in each of these ways. This is our goal in making disciples of Jesus Christ and everything that we do should be aimed at this purpose.

Last week, we talked about how the goal of the Christian life is not just our “salvation”, but our “sanctification”. Sanctification is to continually seek to grow in Christ, until we become as Christ was in the world. It is to grow perfect in Christian love. It is to live in such a way that others see Christ in you. And this is a life-long process.

And what we realize is that we are all at different places in this journey of faith. Some folks are at the stage of “Exploring Christianity”. Others are in the process of “Growing in Christ”. Others have grown to be “Close to Christ”. The goal is to be “Christ-Centered”, where Christ is at the center of all we think and do. As you see those steps there in your Sermon Notes, what I would like for you to do is to circle where you see yourself at this time in your journey of faith. And then, put a square around where you hope to be this time next year.

Again, our mission and goal is to be moving you along in this process of sanctification, so that we are becoming “Christ-centered disciples of Jesus Christ”. But the question, when we talk about becoming spiritually mature disciples of Jesus, is: How do we grow in Christ?

And so today, I want to talk about three things that we can do to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ, and the outgrowth of that will be the 4^th thing that we will talk about. Let me encourage you to write these down: Regular worship attendance, Daily prayer, and Daily Bible reading. This really isn’t that complicated, is it? You already knew this.

I think of this in terms of a marriage. In order to maintain a good marriage, a couple needs to take some time each week to connect with each other. Whether it is a date night or a designated time each week, there needs to be a time set aside each week to romance one another; to break bread together; to share with each other what is happening in our lives; and to try to bless one another. We need this. If we don’t take the time to do this, over the years, we will find that our passion for one another grows cold.

Likewise, we need to set aside time once a week with God. We need to come together once a week to worship God. And so, we try to design our worship services so that it helps you to bless God, by singing praises to God, and by praying, and talking to God. And then, there are those moments where you just sit back and listen, as God speaks to you, through song, and scripture, and the sermon. And then, at the end of the service, there is that place where you offer yourself to the Lord. And in all of this, we seek to bless God and God seeks to bless us. This time once a week is very important.

I’ve been with couples in counseling, where they say, “We don’t feel in love with each other any more.” Well, when was the last time you went on a date or spent quality time together? Our passions for one another will die if we don’t take time for one another. And the same is true of our passion for God.

So, weekly attendance at worship is important, but it is the daily conversations that we have with each other that are equally important, if not more so. And for most couples, these are the quick “check-ins” that happen during the day, “Hey honey, how are you? Are you going to get the kids or am I?” And we need those “check-ins” with each other. But we can’t just have those kinds of conversations with each other. We also need to have the kind of conversations where we are sharing our dreams, our hopes, our frustrations, our deepest thoughts … where we are both sharing and listening to one another. And the same is true in our walk with God.

We have to have those regular times, where we are sharing with God and listening to Him. And one of the best ways to listen to God is to daily read His Word in the Scriptures. If we will approach the Scriptures, saying, “God, I want to hear from you today. Speak to me as I read your Word,” most of the time, you will find that God speaks to you as you read His Word. But even if you don’t hear God speaking to you, reading Scripture is shaping your soul and your mind. And so, daily Scripture reading becomes very important to our spiritual lives.

So, it’s “worship”, it’s “daily prayer”, and it’s “daily scripture reading”. Now, as you think about your own spiritual growth, how are you doing at these things? Are you spending time in prayer daily? Are you reading the scriptures daily? And as you grow in Christ, are these increasing? Because, as we grow in Christ, these things will increase and as we do these things, we will grow in Christ.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Pastor, this is nothing new. I knew all this.” Of course you did. This is not rocket science. But how often do we do what we know we’re supposed to do?

A few years ago, I had a routine physical and blood test, where they said that my cholesterol was high. My first thought, was that it was just a fluke. I mean, I’m too young and healthy to have that kind of problem. They wanted to do a follow-up visit to confirm their results and so I decided that I would try to do something to make sure that the results were different. So, for 24 hours before I went, I didn’t eat French fries or fried chicken. But when the results came back, they still claimed that my cholesterol was high.

And the doctor said that my cholesterol was so high that there was no way that I could get it down with diet and exercise alone and that I’d need to start taking some medicine. And those who know me, know that I don’t like to take medicine. I try to figure out a way that I can overcome it by myself. It’s a guy thing, I know.

But with my cholesterol going up and then when my clothes started not to fit, I got on the scales one morning and suddenly realized, “I’ve got to do something.” And what do you do in order to lower your cholesterol? You exercise and you eat right. Now, do you need to go out and buy a book to learn this? Of course not. We already know this. We know this, but why don’t we do it?

Spiritually, many of us are suffering from hypertension and anemia. And we know what to do. I’m just reminding you today. “Weekly worship”, “Daily prayer”, and “Daily Scripture reading” are some of the keys to helping us become spiritually healthy. So, in your Sermon Notes there is a place for you set some goals in these three areas. I want to encourage you to put a goal in each of those areas of where you would like to be by this time next year.

I will make it my goal to attend ______ worship times per month.

I will make it my goal to have ______ conversations with God each day.

I will make it my goal to read my Bible _____ minutes each week/day.

Okay, in addition to this, if we’re growing in Christ, we will be “seeking to please our Captain in all things”. We need to recognize that there are certain things that you can do that will destroy your ship and leave you shipwrecked.

If you are in a marriage relationship and you start to flirt with one who is not your spouse … and you start to have thoughts, and then act upon those things. You will find that this will destroy your ship. In our spiritual lives, if we do certain things we can end up pushing God away and building up a wall that separates us from God. And we know what these things are, because the Holy Spirit prompts us and makes us feel guilty about it when we do these things. It’s just that, after a while, if we keep doing them, we no longer hear the Spirit speaking to us. It may be lying; cheating; gambling; pornography; alcoholism; drug addiction; or it may be relationships that you shouldn’t be involved in. We know what those things are for us. The question is, “What are you going to do about them?”

God is merciful and able to forgive, and we all make mistakes, but as Christians our aim and what we desire to do, is to please the Lord. The Apostle Paul says that we are “to live a life worthy of the calling that we have received.” As Christians, this is our aim. And so, we try to steer clear of the icebergs that will destroy our ship. Icebergs are things that look beautiful on the surface, but underneath, they are things that can absolutely tear apart the ship. This is how sin works in our lives.

And this leads me to our final thing to talk about this morning: “Pursuing the Captain’s Mission” in our lives. I want to remind you that you were made for mission. When God created Adam and Eve, part of their purpose was that they would love God and also receive God’s love. But He also called them to take care of the world. And this is still what God expects of us. God has given us life; this planet; and all the resources we need. God has given us the Holy Spirit; the Church; Jesus Christ to show us the truth and the way that leads to life; and the Bible to guide us. But God is expecting us to do the work.

Sometimes, people will say, “I can’t believe in a good and loving God when 30,000 people die every day from starvation and malnutrition related diseases.” But here’s the question: “Is there enough food on this planet to feed everyone?” If there is, then where is the problem? It’s not in the One who created all things. The problem lies with those who were created to manage and take care of all things. And that’s us. God’s primary way of working in this world is through individual people and through the Church. God works through people. And that means that all of us have this mission of serving God and doing God’s will. But we have a problem that keeps us from effectively doing this.

Let me try to explain it this way. I wear contacts, so you might not know that I am severely near-sighted. I mean, without my contacts, I couldn’t see most of you. If I didn’t have my contacts in, most of you would just look like blurry outlines of chairs out there. Some of you look like chairs even when I have my contacts in. A few weeks ago, I got an eye infection from using our tap water to clean my contacts (that’s a whole other sermon I need to preach sometime), but I couldn’t wear my contacts for a week. And I have these coke-bottle lenses for glasses that are probably 15 years old. So, I struggled all week with trying to see.

Without my contacts, I can only see clearly about 6 inches from my face. And I want to suggest that this is our spiritual condition. Spiritually, all we really see is ourselves. All we see are our needs, our wants, and what is going to make us happy … “Me, My, & I,” that’s all I can see … without the help of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is meant to cure our vision. It is meant to help us see as God sees the world. It is meant to help us notice other people. The interesting thing is, that with my contacts in, things up close are blurry, but I can see you clearly. This is what is supposed to happen in our Christian lives. The more we mature spiritually, the less we are focused on ourselves and the more we begin to see the needs of others. As we grow in Christ, our hearts begin to break for the things that break the heart of God. We begin to feel and care about other people’s pain and we feel the call to do something about it.

Every one of us here has been called by God to mission. And God’s mission for your life is not your personal happiness. Some of us live with the idea that, “My mission in life is that I’m supposed to be happy, so I am not going to do anything that won’t make me happy.” But we all know that when our goal in life is to make ourselves happy, happiness is always illusive. Because happiness is a by-product to doing other things that we’re supposed to be doing. Happiness is often something that surprises you, while you are doing the thing that you were made to do.

Each of us has been gifted and called. So, I want to ask you this question: Are you fulfilling God’s mission for your life? Do you have any sense of what that is? Are you serving Him with your hands?

Now, when I think about this, I think about those three sailors that we’ve been studying over the last few weeks … Noah, Jonah, and Simon Peter. In our Scriptures for today, we read: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” That means that Noah did the things we’ve been talking about. He spent time with God. He cultivated a relationship with God. And he didn’t do the things that others were doing that were displeasing to God. And God said to Noah, “Make yourself an ark.” In other words, “I’ve got something for you to do, Noah. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to require sacrifice, but through it, I’m going to accomplish my purposes.” And “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”

I wonder, when you hear God’s voice calling you, are you like Noah … willing to do all that God commands of you? Will you be obedient?

Or are we like Jonah? Remember that Jonah was called by God to go preach to the Ninevites … to challenge the things that they were doing in their society; to call them to repent and to walk with God. But Jonah didn’t like the Ninevites, so he refused to go. He got on a ship going in the opposite direction and God brought a terrible storm. The other sailors threw him overboard to save themselves and a big fish swallowed him up. This whole story is a wonderful insight into our own spiritual stories and struggles.

Jonah ends up in the belly of this whale with his arms crossed, saying, “I don’t care, God, I’m still not going to do what you want me to do.” But you know, it is only so long that we can sit in the belly of the whale, with all the stench and the yuck, before we finally give up and say, “Okay.” There comes a point, when we hit rock bottom and we finally give up. And this is what happened to Jonah.

The whale finally vomits him onto the dry land. And then, Jonah goes on a three-month mission trip to the City of Nineveh. Listen to what it says: “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh.”

I love that verse, “God came to Jonah a second time.” God is the God of the second chance. You may have turned God down in the past. You may have walked away from God’s plan and will for your life at one time. But God will come to us a second time. And God hopes that when he comes to you the second time that you will follow him, like Jonah did. It doesn’t always mean that what God calls us to is going to make us happy or that we will want to do it. But we do it any way and God blesses our faithfulness.

Finally, there is Simon Peter. Jesus takes Peter and the other disciples out on the Sea of Galilee to do a little fishing. And they catch so many fish that they can’t haul them in. At this point, Peter has just met Jesus and Jesus says: “Do not be afraid, Simon.” Why do you think Jesus started with that line? Because when he calls us, sometimes that’s our reaction. “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.”

Would you do that? Would you be willing to take risks to follow God? Would you be willing to go fishing for people? Because that’s what he calls us to do. In his last commission to his disciples, Jesus said, “I want you to go into all the world and make disciples of all people.” Save them from the shipwrecks, the storms, and turmoil at sea, and help them find their way to God’s eternal Kingdom. This is what we are called to do!

And here’s the good news … you will not find any greater joy, than when you are living and serving God’s purpose for your life. As a church, this is what we try to do. We try to figure out how we can all be at work fulfilling God’s purposes together. So, throughout the year, we offer opportunities, great and small. Bring a can of food or a present at Christmas. If you can’t do that, then write a check and we will buy it for you. Anyone can do that. But we hope that you will grow beyond that and say, “I’ll come help sort it and box it up for people who are in need.”

But then, we hope you will grow beyond that, to saying, “I’ll not only come help sort and box, I’d like to help take it to those in need.” Or “I’d like to help prepare and serve meals once a month to the homeless or those in need.”

And then, we hope you would be willing to take a weekend or week’s vacation to go to South Louisiana and help fix up people’s homes that are need or serve on an Epiphany team that ministers to youth in prison.

And then, maybe you grow to the point that you’re willing to take money out of your savings to go to Africa, because you’ve heard how so many children have lost their parents to AIDS and they go to bed hungry every night, and you want to see how you could make a difference. We are meant to stretch and grow in our service to Christ over time.

Now, it may not be these kinds of things. It may be that God is calling you to teach Sunday School; or mentor a youth in Confirmation; or teach a study for others. And when we do these kinds of things, we find joy in serving God. Those who are growing in Christ understand that, in the end, it’s not all about just receiving the love that God has for us. In the end, the proof of our faith is in how we live our lives for other people.

So, I need to ask you, are you answering God’s call to serve other people? Both inside the Church and outside, are you serving others? If not, I hope you will answer God’s call today. In your Sermon Notes, there is a place for you answer this call.

This year I will invite _____ friends, family or co-workers to church.

This year I will give _____ hours of my time to serving others by:

Here’s my dream and what I believe is God’s dream for our church. That we have a church that is growing, by “knowing”, “loving”, and “serving” God together. I hope that when other people look at us, they will be able to say, “Those people are the real deal and West Monroe is a better city because that church is here, because those people are living out their faith in action.”

Prayer

I invite you to put your hands on your lap palms up and close your eyes. I would like for you to offer to God this prayer.

Lord, I offer my hands to you. Use them. Help me to serve you. I wish to answer your call. Use my voice to speak to others and to draw them to you. Help me to know you. Help me love you. And help me to serve you. In your holy name, Amen.