Called to Be a Steward

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.
Psalm 67.35,26

God is wonderful among his saints.
Verse: Bless God in the congregations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:33-40; 12:1-2

Brethren, all the saints through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering over deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

The Gospel Reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30

The Lord said to his disciples, "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Then Peter said in reply, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Think of all the crowds who follow Jesus.  The men and women and children who leave their homes and fields and their work and go to listen to Jesus teach and preach.  Hundreds, thousands eager to see Jesus heal someone, eager to see Jesus work a miracle, eager to see Jesus do something.

Probably everybody who could walk, and even more who had the fortune of being carried – everybody in Galilee had come out to see and hear Jesus.  The same in Judea – they heard what he had done elsewhere, and they wanted to see what he would do here.

Is not the same true here today.  Hundreds, thousands of people thronging to churches all over this city, all over this country.  We have heard that Jesus has power.  We have heard that Jesus can heal, we have heard that Jesus forgives for free.  So everybody is ‘saved’.  Everybody has a ‘testimony’.  Even the politicians pretend to be religious.  They make sure they are seen with the right preachers or religious leaders.  Everybody is out to get something.  Everybody is out to use Jesus and religion for something they want, something they need.

Even we Orthodox, too many of us go to Church not because of what we can give but what we can get.  Too many of us look for handouts.  We learned from past experience that the bishop will do this for us, the bishop will give that to us.  That’s what bishops do, isn’t it.  And if the bishop isn’t around, we’ll go for the priest.  I saw this especially when I lived in Kisumu.  For too many of us our religion is all about what we can get.  It’s all about ME, meeting my needs, about me getting what I think I need or want.

But have you ever noticed what happens when things get hard?  All of these dancing, shouting, worshiping people disappear.  If there is no money?  If it became costly to be a Christian, do you think anybody would hang around?  Nope.  If people don’t think they are going to get anything more from here, then they will just go find and drink from another fountain.  All those thousands of people around Jesus as he went around, when things began to look bad that last week, when he was arrested, when he was tried, when he was scourged, when he was crucified, where were all those people then?  Everybody ran away.  Even his disciples.  Everybody missed the entire point of what Jesus had been saying.  All that teaching.  Everybody missed the point of what Jesus kept telling everybody what he was about.  Nobody understood.

I think the same thing is happening today.  Just about everybody is a Christian because of what they can get. Even we Orthodox Christians.  Getting ‘blessed’ is what it is about, which in Kenya is code for getting access to money.

Jesus didn’t invite people to come get handouts.  He didn’t start a single clinic, nor establish a single school, nor set up a single feeding program. Jesus didn’t build a single church building.  Jesus didn’t invite people to come to this nice church and then say this nice bishop will give you everything you need.  No, Jesus has invited us to come and die.  To pick up our cross and follow him to the place of crucifixion, to the place where he chose the way of love rather than selfishness, to the place where he chose to give himself rather than receive.  And Jesus says, ‘Follow Me.’  Being a Christian is not about coming to Church, not about receiving sacraments, not about saying prayers.  Being a Christian is about knowing and following Jesus.  All these sacraments and icons and all that other stuff is just meant to help you and me to be disciples, to follow Jesus.  To give ourselves completely to him.  To be willing to do what He tells me to do, to go where He tells me to go.  According to Jesus, if I am not a disciple, then I am not a Christian.  Sure I may belong to a Church, I may claim to be ‘saved’, I may even be on the Church board.  I may even be a sub-deacon or a priest or a bishop. But if I am not a disciple, if I am not step by step following Jesus, I have haven’t given myself and all that I have to Him for Him to use for His glory, if I haven’t responded to His call to follow me and I will make you fishers of men, then I may be many things, but I am not a Christian.

Let me get very practical and see if I can explain what all this means in one area, at least, an area that touches every single one of us. Hold onto your seats, because I’m about to meddle.  I want to help us understand what being a disciple, what being a real Christian, means with respect to our money. 

But first let me ask you a couple of questions.  Who gave you life?  Who brought you into this world?  God did.  Who gave you your abilities, and a mind to think, and a voice to talk and sing?  God did.  And this day called today, and this hour, and this moment – where did they come from?  God has given you every second, every day, every year.  And everything you have, the stuff in your house, in your bank account, in your wallet or pocketbook?  It all comes from God.  Even the ability to think, to walk, to work, to make a salary – all of it comes from God.  So my question is this – why has God given you all of this?  Why are you here? 

Jesus uses a word to describe what we are, what he is calling us to be, and that word is ‘steward’.  In Jesus’ day, a steward was a slave.  He was brought on to manage the landowner’s estate, or to manage everything in the landowner’s house.  Did the steward own the land?  No, the owner did.  Did the steward own the machines or the other workers or the crops?  No, the owner did.  The steward’s job was to manage all those things that the owner put under his responsibility.  You and I are stewards.  We don’t own our time, our money, our stuff, our abilities, our jobs – it all belongs to the Lord.  The Lord is asking us to manage all of these things, and to manage them in such a way that we glorify God and we advance his kingdom in this place.

So what are you doing with what God has given you?  Are you finding ways to use the things and time and abilities and money to live for Christ, to be His man or His woman where you are?  Or are you not even thinking about it?  Maybe you’re just thinking all this stuff, this time, these abilities is simply yours to use or misuse however you want to.  But your life and everything you have is not yours.  It’s been given to you by the Lord, to manage for his glory.  The Lord is coming back, and He is going to have a conversation with you and with me, and He is going to ask you, ‘So what have you done with all the good things I gave you?’  He’s the owner and he’s going to hold us all accountable for what we have done or not done with all of his incredible gifts.  Don’t be like the steward who told his master, I took what you gave me and I dug a hole and buried it.

So let me give one point of application for this.  There’s lots I could say, but I thnk this is one thing among many that we really need to grow in.  Did you know that if all of us sitting here who claim to be Christians started living as if we were good stewards of all God’s good gifts, we as a parish would never need to ask anybody for anything.  That’s because all of us would be looking for ways to give our money to help the parish in it’s ministries, all of us would be volunteering our time to assist with the parishes ministries, like with teaching the children, or with helping our youth, or with reaching out to the poor, or with singing with the choir, or with starting a Christian bookstore or other outreaches.  If we members of this parish were being good stewards of what God has given us, we could pay the priest a living wage, we could cover all of our bills and repairs and supplies.  We could even start new ministries with spiritual gifts that we have here that aren’t being used right now.  

I think it’s fair to say that throughout our history, we haven’t done very well as a parish when it comes to being a good steward with our resources.  We have gotten into a very bad habit of waiting for someone else to pay for things that really are our responsibility as a parish.  But we are not doomed to take our past and make it our future.  We can decide to wake up and get serious about discipleship, about stewardship.  We can make a decision to put Jesus’ priorities first.  And if we don’t know what Jesus’ priorities are, we can come together and study, say, the Sermon on the Mount and discover what it is that Jesus wants us to do and be as a church.

Right now, our Church has some serious needs, and the Father has scheduled a time in two weeks for us to come together and address those needs.  And I understand that this is sort of an emergency, one-off effort to help us take care of some pressing issues we are facing as a church.  Notice I said help US, take care of issues WE are facing.  This is not the priest’s church. This is not the Bishop’s church.  This is not the Patriarch’s church.  This is not one particular ethnic group’s church and the rest of us are sort of here for the ride.  No this is OUR Church.  And when all of US TOGETHER are looking to JESUS to lead us, and guide us and bless us, we will be able to take steps together that make OUR Church a Church that Christ can actually use to bring glory to his name and to advance the kingdom of God in this place.

So in two weeks, all of you come, every member of this community, and lets all do our fair share.  But that’s not really what this sermon is about.  The point I am making is that following Jesus, being his disciple also means being a steward of all his good things.  We don’t just put a few shillings in the offering – God is calling me to put everything on his altar, because everything that I am and everything that I have is his already.

So what are you doing with who you are and what you have?  What are we doing as a church with who we are and what we have?  We have two choices.  We can take it all and put it on the altar for God to use for his glory.  Or we can did a hole and bury it.  And if you are realizing, My God I have taken everything you have given me and used it selfishly for myself.  I have dug a big hole and buried every good thing you have given me – it’s not too late to dig it back up and pull it all back out and bring it all and yourself back to God.  Confessing, changing directions, changing your mind, doing the right things – it’s what the Bible calls repentance, and real Christians have gotten real good at it over their lives.  Because repentance is what Christians do.  Repentance is at the very heart of what it means to be a disciple and a good steward of all He has given and is giving you.  It’s how we change.   So what will you do?  Dig a hole and bury your life and your talents and your time and your money, or put it all on the altar and live the resurrection life Christ is calling you to?  Because as Jesus himself says, ‘Where your treasure is, there is your heart.’

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

 

A sermon preached at Sts. Anargyroi Orthodox Church in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, June 27, 2021.

Myrrh-Bearing Missionaries

 

Prokeimenon. Mode 2.
Psalm 117.14,18

The Lord is my strength and my song.
Verse: The Lord has chastened me sorely.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7

In those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, "it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochoros, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaos, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

The Gospel according to Mark 15:43-47; 15:1-8

At that time, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  [He is risen indeed!]  Kristo amefufuka! [Kweli amefufuka!]

 

Death is always the end of the story, isn’t it?  Look at how our many cultures struggle so with death.  We are so afraid of death, of dying.  Our traditional religions go to tremendous lengths to protect us from the dead, from the ancestors, to keep the living from being troubled by those who have departed from us.  And we are afraid of dying.  I remember a conversation I had with a Kenyan friend back in the 1980s.  He had been sick, and I asked him, “Why don’t you go to Kenyatta Hospital and let them help you?”  And he said, “No, that’s where people go to die.”

The reality of death.  The fear of death.  The terror of death.  Our world has no answer.  We try to build a bridge over the abyss of death and our fears of dying with platitudes, or distractions, or addictions.  We try to comfort ourselves by making the Bible say things that the Bible nowhere says, like we will all go to heaven when we die.  But when you open a Bible and actually read what Jesus and the Apostles say, going to heaven is not what the Gospel is all about.  God is doing something much more profound.  Our situation is actually worse than we have allowed ourselves to imagine.  As St. Paul rightly says, death is the last great enemy.  And this is why Pascha is so central to real orthodox Christianity, and that without Pascha, there is no Christian faith, and no hope for you or me in the face of a life that ends in death and the grave.

A group of women made their way in the darkness before dawn to the cold dark tomb where Jesus’ body lay.  These women understood that death was the end of the story.  These women had known Jesus, they had heard him teach, they had seen the miracles, lepers restored, blind given sight, paralytics walking, a dead son restored to his widowed mother, and even just last week, (was it only just last week?) Jesus had called the dead Lazarus from his tomb after his being dead four days.  But after an absolutely tumultuous week, Jesus had been seized in the middle of the night, taken off to a secret trial, handed over to the Romans, who treated him like any other outlaw.  They crucified him, as if he were a bandit, as if he were a murderer.  And these women, horrified, watched him suffer and then die.  They watched and wept as that rich man from Arimathea took down his body from the cross.  They gathered around and helped as his body was washed and quickly wrapped and carried to a nearby tomb, because the sun was setting and it was almost Sabbath.  They saw where they laid his lifeless body.  They watched as the men rolled a big stone across the entrance.  They stumbled home in the darkness, drained, empty, numb.  They had thought that Jesus might be the one who would save Israel.  But the story had come to a terrible end.  That is what death does.  It brings every story to a terrible end, even yours, even mine.

Every culture has its ways of coping with death.  Somehow, the rituals help soften the blow.  In America we have our viewings and visitations, our funerals, our graveside prayers or scattering of ashes.  For these women, they were doing what they had done so many times before when a loved one had died or a friend was bereaved.  They stepped in for the family and took care of the body.  They prepared the body for burial.  For Jews, there was no embalming; the custom was to bury the dead on the day they died. This involved washing the body, anointing the body with spices to offset the stench of decay, and of wrapping the body in a shroud.  The body would be taken on a bier to a tomb and left on a slab.  The tomb was then closed.  The body would decompose and after some months, members of the family would return, open the tomb, and collect the bones and place them in a small box, an ossuary, which they would then put in a niche in the tomb.  This would offer some closure.  And the tomb would be ready to be used again. 

These women, therefore, had a job to finish.  So after the Sabbath, before dawn, while it was still cool, they gathered by the city gate.  They knew where the tomb was.  They came with their spices.  They came because the story was over, and this is the only way they knew to cope.    They had followed Jesus from when he was in Galilee.  They came with him to Jerusalem.  They followed him as he carried the cross.  They had gone with him as far as they could go.  But now death had ended his story.  They came to say goodbye to a man they knew and loved. Today we would call it grief work.

We all know what happened next.  It is not a long walk from the gates of Jerusalem to Joseph’s tomb where Jesus’ body lay.  The practical soul among them was already fretting about how to move the stone from the front of the tomb.  And as they followed the path around the bend and the tomb came into sight, they caught their breath and stood, stunned.  No one ever expects an angel.  And angels are always having to tell people things like, ‘Don’t be afraid!’  ‘Don’t be alarmed!’ this angel says.  Easy enough for an angel to say, but for a small group of women who have just stumbled upon the end of the old age and the beginning of the new, terror is understandable.

An angel is one thing, but it’s what he says that absolutely undoes them.  ‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.  See the place where they laid him.’ (Mark 16:6)  Excuse me, but I’m sorry, this just doesn’t happen.  Death is always the end of the story.  There are no categories for this, not for these women, not for us.  OK, even so, we’ve sort of gotten used to this idea that Jesus has risen from the dead.  That’s why Pascha is such a big deal, and rightly so.  But it’s what the angel says next to these women that I want to leave you with.  He says, ‘But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.’ (Mark 16:7) 

Just a couple of obvious things.  First, notice that this is a commission.  The angel says ‘Come and see,’ and then he says, ‘Go and tell,’ specifically go and tell the disciples what you have heard from me – that Jesus is risen from the dead – go and tell what you have seen with your own eyes – namely that the tomb is empty.  No greater charge has ever been given.

Secondly, notice to whom this commission is given.  The angel did not appear to Peter, or to any of the other disciples.  The angel did not make this announcement to Pilate, or the chief priests, nor did he call a special meeting of the Sanhedrin.  He didn’t appear in Herod’s court or in Rome before the emperor.  No, this is a couple of women.  They have no legal standing as witnesses.  They are not movers and shakers.  They wield no power or influence in the halls of the mighty.  With all due respect to the women here, God chooses political, cultural, societal nobodies to be the ones entrusted with the most important message ever given to anyone.  I don’t think they had ever been to college, much less seminary.  Jesus had said on a number of occasions that wherever he was in charge, the first would be last and the last would be first.  Well, this is what that looks like.

            Lastly, I just want to point out that nothing has changed today.  The tomb is still empty. And in spite of the studied blindness of our cultures, Death is not the end of the story.  Instead with the resurrection of Jesus, an entirely new story has begun.  And it’s a story that has involved many people over many years.  But now if you look down on the page, we’ve come to that part in Jesus’ story that’s about you, and about me.  That’s your name I see written here, and our parish!  Our lives are being touched and transformed as the good news comes even to us.  We, too, are hearing with our own ears, seeing with our own eyes, experiencing in our own hearts what the risen Jesus can do.  But just like with the women, the myrrh-bearing women, it doesn’t stop with them – it doesn’t stop with us.  Instead the angel says to us, ‘Come and see! Go and tell!’  We, too, have the same commission.  ‘Go and tell’ all these people in our families, in our neighborhood, in our schools, in our places of work, all these people who live their lives in the valley of the shadow of death, tell them Jesus is risen, death is defeated, we need no longer be afraid, we need no longer be enslaved.  We, too, stand at the end of the old age and the beginning of the new.  Death’s reign of terror has come to an end for us.  Jesus has become the first-fruits of everyone he will raise from the dead.  And just as he says to Martha, He says to you right now: ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?’ (John 11:25-26)  Did Martha believe this?  Did the women believe this?  Do you believe this? 

Jesus is the start of what God is doing with this world, of how God is renewing and saving His world..  With the defeat of death and the resurrection of Jesus, the New Creation has begun.  Not just those of us who die will be saved from death, but the entire creation will be made new.  The end of our lives is not to be some disembodied spirit floating around some heaven somewhere.  Rather God will do the very same thing for you and me as He did for Jesus, we will be raised from the dead, and we will live in a new Creation, where sin and death are no more, where we will live fully human lives the way we were created to be.

Mark’s gospel ends with this: ‘And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.’ (Mark 16:8)  There is more speculation than you can shake a stick at as to whether or not the original ending of Mark’s gospel got lost, and if it did, how might it have ended.  But for our sake, I’m glad it ends this way.  I think I would have done the same thing if it had been me.  And we do know from the other gospels that they in fact came face to face with the risen Jesus, that they did recover from their shock, that they did tell the disciples (who at first refused to believe them).  They went on to be among those praying in the upper room, among those filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, among those who were part of the first churches.  But it started with ‘Come and see’ and ‘Go and tell.’  These women were right there at the dawn of the Kingdom of the risen Jesus.  ‘Come and see,’ the angel said.  ‘Go and tell,’ he commissioned them.  They are first apostles.  The very first missionaries.

The same call is on my life – Come and see!  Go and tell!  And the same call is on your life, too.  Everything changes when we meet the risen Jesus.  When we see Him for who He is.  And if our Christianity hasn’t made any difference in our lives and priorities, living as if this world will never end as if we can put off death indefinitely, if we are still running around like everybody else in our culture, as if getting rich, or becoming powerful, or if eating and drinking and sex are what this life is all about, then it must mean that we haven’t met Him yet.  We honor these women today because in them we see what it means to be not just an apostle, and not just a missionary.  We see in them what it means to be a Christian, right here and right now.  Come and see, says the angel at the tomb.  Go and tell.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

A sermon preached on the Sunday after Pascha, the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women at Sts. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Nairobi, Kenya

Take Heed for Yourself and the Flock Under Your Care

 

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.
Daniel 3.26,27

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 20:16-18, 28-36

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.' " And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

The Gospel of John 17:1-13

At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.

"I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

 

[Give them Jesus.]

St. Paul’s message today is a message for our leaders.  What is the purpose of leadership in the church?  And by leaders I mean the parish board members, the teachers, the preachers the priests and bishops.  Your purpose, says St. Paul, is to

‘equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of God, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ’. (Ephesians 4:12-15) 

This is the calling that is on the life of every man and woman who accepts the call to be a leader in Christ’s church.  This is what our leaders should be doing with themselves, with their time, with their resources.   And where these good things are happening in a church, when men and women are growing in their love for Christ and themselves in Christlikeness, you can give thanks for men and women who are giving themselves to do God’s work for God’s glory here.  And when a church is not growing in Christ, and its people are not becoming more and more like Christ, it’s usually because the leaders are concerned about other things than obeying Christ’s call on their lives and equipping the saints.

There are some similarities here between what’s going on here and what happens on a shamba.  I learned a lot about farming when I was here in Kenya in 1980.  I lived with an Africa Inland Church pastor and his family in a place called Ingashura outside Nakuru.  He pastored five small churches, and where they lived they also had a small piece of land where they grew maize and beans and Sukuma wiki.  And they also had about 15 chickens.  Every week Pastor Samuel would visit some of his churches, and we would walk to the homes of some of the members.  Sometimes we would walk further down the Rift Valley.  Other times we would walk up to the escarpment.  And everywhere there were shambas.  Some shambas were absolutely beautiful.  The maize was tall and green, sprouting tassels and growing big fat ears of corn.  Those farmers would bring in bags and bags of maize to sell at the market.  Other fields looked poorly.  The plants were small and the leaves were sickly.  There were bare patches in the field where no maize had grown at all, and there were weeds everywhere.  In a month or so, when it came time to harvest, the farmer was not going to have anything to take to market.

So what happened here?  The first farmers I talked about, the ones with the beautiful fields and the big abundant harvest, it’s not like they sat on their hands and did nothing.  No, they worked hard.  They tilled the land, with a njembe or with a tractor if they could borrow one.  They fertilized their field.  They bought good seed that wouldn’t rot in the ground.  When the weeds started to grow, they went out and chopped them down.  When the insects and worms came, they sprayed their maize.  And then when harvest came, they were rewarded for all their efforts by a huge harvest that they were able to use to pay their bills and school fees and for all the things that families need to live.

But the other farmers seem to have done just the opposite.  They waited until it was almost too late to prepare their land, and even then they didn’t turn it properly.  They skimped on fertilizer because they said it was too expensive.  They planted seed but could not be bothered to pull out the weeds when they grew.  And when the worms and the insects and the blight came, they didn’t even notice because they never went out to check how their shamba was doing.  So it should surprise no one that when the time for harvest came, all they found in that big field was a few half eaten ears of maize.  And of course the farmer blamed everybody but himself.

We are one of those fields.  Our leaders are the farmers.  And St. Paul has a very simple but crucial message to those who are in positions of leadership in this parish, or in any parish.  He is talking to the leaders of the parish in Ephesus.  He’s in a hurry to get to Jerusalem and so he doesn’t want to make a proper visit to Ephesus and spend a lot of time there.  So he calls the parish leaders to meet him in the port city of Miletus so he can meet with them when his boat stops in the port.

Paul has two things to say to the church leaders of Ephesus who have come to see him.  First, he says to them, take heed to yourself.  Watch out for yourselves.  Watch over yourselves.  This is almost shocking to hear today.  Almost nobody takes seriously God’s call, not just for leaders but for all Christians, to be holy in the way they live their lives.  This covers just about everything.  How you conduct yourself in your business – in other words, no corruption.  How you conduct yourself in your personal relationships – in other words, no lying and cheating and manipulation.  How you conduct yourself sexually – in other words, no sleeping around with prostitutes, no fornication, no adultery.  How you conduct yourself with respect to your appetites – avoiding gluttony, not getting drunk, staying away from drugs, keeping yourself from the idols of materialism.  And then, most important of all, not pretending to be a Christian, but having a living, joyful, growing relationship with God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is what Paul means to take heed to yourself. If you were a field of maize, then Paul is saying make sure you clear the land, and plow it, and fertilize it and plant good seed, and the weed it and keep the pests from destroying it.  The field is your heart.  The seed is the gospel.  And the preparing and plowing and weeding and spraying – these are all your parts in your relationship with God.  And the result will be great rejoicing when harvest time comes.

Sadly, we have way too many examples all around us of what happens when parish board members and even priests are not taking heed to themselves.  It would be tragic enough if these men (and women) were only destroying themselves.  But their drunkenness, their profligacy, their sexual sins, their corruption, their carelessness for the things of God – when they live this way, not only are they destroying themselves, but they are setting an example to the rest of the Christians in the parish that says it doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t matter what you say.  Live for yourself just like me.  These men and women may be terrible Christian leaders, but they are being quite effective in leading people away from God and towards an eternity in hell.  A person may have an important title or a big office, or they may wear beautiful vestments.  But it doesn’t matter what’s on the outside; what matters is what’s on the inside, in that person’s heart.

I had a chance to work with some of the leading women in western Kenya who were planning a conference when I was living there.  They were very excited to have visitors from America to come and be speakers.  But these women were not serious about making good plans, about ensuring that all the participants needs were taken care of.  Nor did they care about what was being taught.  It became very clear to me as the conference was proceeding that what these women were really concerned about was getting access to the money that they were sure these American women had brought for them.  But there was no money.  And when the American women left and went back home, these women leaders raised hell and accused one of my friends, a priest, of receiving the money from the women and pocketing it for himself.  They demanded that he give them ‘their’ money.  Of course there was no money.  They demanded a meeting with the bishop and proceeded to shout at the bishop and at this priest about the money they claimed was theirs.  The bishop saw through what they were doing.  An email to the women back in America confirmed that there was no money given nor any money intended for these leaders.  These leaders were exposed as caring only for themselves, willing to lie and cheat and even falsely accuse an innocent priest before the bishop, just so they could get money.  Needless to say they are no longer in leadership.  But just think of what good they could have done for Orthodox women in Western Kenya with a conference like this had their hearts been right with the Lord.  This was an opportunity to do great good that was essentially wasted because these leaders had not kept their hearts in Christ. 

So now we begin to see why Paul says to the leaders of the Ephesian church to keep watch over their hearts and lives.  But Paul also charges them to keep watch over the flock entrusted to their care.  The image is of a shepherd.  If you have ever been responsible for keeping animals like sheep or goats, cows or chickens, then you will know that it takes time and effort.  These animals need to be fed.  They need to be given water.  They need a safe place to rest.  They need to be protected from wild animals and from thieves.  A shepherd who does not care for his or her animals will not have animals after a while.  And the same with leaders in the church.  It is not enough just to show up for services on a Sunday.  You leaders are responsible for the spiritual growth of the people who make up this parish.  And evangelism doesn’t just happen because you unlock the church door on Sunday.  Evangelism happens when you go out into the neighborhood and build relationships with those on the outside, and let them see and experience what it means to be a Christian as they get to know you.  And of course invite them to church, and invite them to know Jesus.  But as with everything in the Christian life, if the leaders are not doing it, then neither will any body in the church do it.  Leaders will set an example – either a good example that everyone will follow, or a bad example that everyone will follow.  And keeping track of the finances, making sure we have services, having meetings, all of those things have their place.  But the most important thing on a leader’s agenda is ensuring that the people here are growing in Christ.  Everything else is secondary and meant to facilitate this one primary goal.

So how do we help our people grow in Christ.  First we must know them.  Set up times to visit and meet with the people in the parish, over tea.  Have them share not just who they are and what they do, but to talk about their journey as a Christian.  Find out where they are, spiritually speaking.  If you don’t know the condition of their hearts, then how will you know how to help them as their spiritual doctor?

Secondly, teach them.  Make sure they are growing in their knowledge of the Scriptures.  There are two way to do this.  First is to organize a class for the adults, as well as Sunday School for the children.  And have good Bible teachers who know the Scriptures and who know how to teach.  The second is lead a small group Bible study.  These small groups meet weekly and have inductive discussions on passages of Scripture.  And they pray for each other.  So not only are they learning more about the Bible and what it means to be a Christian, they are experiencing fellowship and encouragement as well. 

Thirdly, you/we preachers, preach the Word.  Take time and take care to prepare your message.  Don’t just show up and talk off the top of your head.  Feed the people not just milk but with the meat of the Word that they need to grow.

And lastly, leaders should not just be getting to know the members, but be visiting the people on a regular basis.  A leader should know the living situation of every member.  He should be praying over their needs and concerns., meeting their family members and their friends.  This is how leaders care for the flock under their responsibility.

There is so much more I could say, but this is enough for our little group here.  There are two ways to grow a church.  One way is to promise all kinds of money or access to stuff.  You will get lots of people here. But they will not care about Jesus or what Jesus intends for his church; they only want what they can get.  And if they can’t get money or stuff here, they’ll just go somewhere else.  The second way to grow a church is to help your people get to know Jesus.  And as people get to know Jesus and get filled with his love and start living a life of repentance and love, the people around them will take notice.  Because this is what we were created to be and made to know.  People will come because of Jesus, because of what they see Jesus doing in your life and in the life of this church, because this is what they know they desperately need themselves.

But it happens only when the leaders themselves take Jesus seriously, when the leaders themselves take their call seriously, when the leaders themselves begin to take heed for their lives.  When the leaders themselves begin to take heed for the flock.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

 A sermon preached on Sunday, June, 20, 2021 at St. Sophia Orthodox Church in Nairobi, Kenya.