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.
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