Do you know about the principle that directs every Christian's life?
Father Goodrich preached this sermon, based on Matthew 9:35-10:8 to a live congregation of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dubuque, Iowa.
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Do you know about the principle that directs every Christian's life?
Father Goodrich preached this sermon, based on Matthew 9:35-10:8 to a live congregation of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dubuque, Iowa.
Subscribe to the Father Goodrich Newsletter
So I parked at the parish house parking lot, get out of my car and I went up the ramp with the intention of going inside the parish house, into the church's offices, and suddenly I heard the sound of brakes whaling and steel smashing together. So I whipped around to witness the wreck of two cars that had collided.
Speaker 1:And since I'm not an, emergency medical technician or a medical doctor. I just turned around and I went up the ramp back into the parish house. Oh, of course I didn't do that. So I walked down to the scene of the accident, i called 911. I tried to comfort and provide some reassurance to the people in the wreck And I waited for help. I waited for the experts to arrive. I responded to the situation And today a gospel lesson from Matthew, chapter 9, jesus responds to a situation And his response set the direction for the very first disciples, their whole lives, and his response set the direction for the church for 20 centuries to the present moment. So what?
Speaker 1:situation was Jesus, exactly responding to.
Speaker 2:Did you catch it when you heard the gospel?
Speaker 1:lesson being read Well let's hear just a snippet of it again, maybe you'll pick it up this time. Matthew 9, verse 35.
Speaker 2:Then Jesus went about all the.
Speaker 1:Finnesian villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, incurring every disease and every sickness.
Speaker 1:When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them. So what's the situation? Through Jesus' compassion, he notices the crowds and he notices their very real human needs. This is the situation he is responding to, and he turns to his disciples, his students, and he tells them this in verse 37. The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest. Now some translations render that verse slightly differently from verse 37. Here's how other translations put it Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.
Speaker 1:Question Does Jesus asking his disciples, his students, to pray seem particularly radical? That's in particularly radical to you? Not particularly at all, but notice what happens immediately after Jesus gives this injunction to pray. It happens in the very next verse, matthew 10, verse 1. Jesus summons his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to cure every disease and every sickness.
Speaker 2:Now.
Speaker 1:Jesus does? he sends his disciples to do. What Jesus does He sends His disciples to do. Let's say that together What Jesus does, he sends His disciples to do? Now that's pretty radical. Yet that is exactly how the church is supposed to work. Jesus sends His disciples out to do what He does, What Jesus does. He sends His disciples out to do So if you identify as a. Christian whether a weak Christian a strong Christian, a Christian with reservations whatever.
Speaker 2:If you identify as a Christian, if you've been baptized if you intend on coming forward to the altar this morning to receive Holy Communion, then this principle applies to you.
Speaker 1:Let's call it the Apostolic Principle. Let's say those two words twice Apostolic principle, Apostolic principle We rehearse the Apostolic principle every week in the Eucharist. Every week we are gathered and we are summoned as a St John's church family to be strengthened and then sent out into the world to respond to the harvest of human need, to do what Jesus does. That's the principle. We are to pass on what we have received. So we've received wisdom and the lessons appointed for each day.
Speaker 2:And we are then to pass on that wisdom to others especially the children in our lives.
Speaker 1:We will share the peace during this service during the liturgy, And so we are to go out into the world and be peacemakers and to grant the gift of peace and pass on peace to other people.
Speaker 1:Now stick with this. We also have confession and absolution, and so we receive forgiveness. Therefore, you and I are to go out into the world and give the gift of forgiveness to others, to be reconcilers in the world. In Holy Communion we are fed, and so we are to go out into the world and feed others physically and spiritually. Now the next point I'm going to make. I hope you've made this connection by now. I really hope you've had it. You've been here for anything but time. But just in case, it is no accident that we have a mission partnership with the Dubuque food pantry. We are Eucharistic people, so we feed others. It is no accident that we serve a meal to those in need on the fifth Sunday of the month. Why? Because we are a Eucharistic people And so we feed others. So make sure you're still awake here. Question for you Is it an accident that up at the parish house we have a mini food pantry?
Speaker 2:Is that an accident.
Speaker 1:No, why? Because we are a Eucharistic people. Just this week, someone came by who was in needing assistance from them. Now the Eucharist is the meal of the apostolic community, and we are fed at the altar so that we might live our lives in a way that feeds others physically and spiritually. This is Christianity 101. This is the basics of what we rehearse every.
Speaker 1:Sunday, when we come together and celebrate the Eucharist, we are fed so that we might feed others.
Speaker 1:This started with Sunday school. Question answer Jesus And Jesus passing on to the apostles, the very first disciples, and then for 20 centuries, 20 centuries. This apostolic principle of passing on what we receive has been handed down from generation to generation of believers. And if you're in this room, if you're a Christian or baptized or thinking about being a Christian, well then this is our turn to pass on and live this faith, to live out the apostolic principle. And this applies whether you're a so-called spiritual physician or technician, a priest or missionary, or whether you're a so-called ordinary Christian though there is no such thing. So this apostolic principle applies to all of us, whatever particular state of life or commitments that might we have as a Christian. It applies to us all. Father Roth Cain teaches at an Episcopal Seminary and here's how he thinks and talks about this subject Jesus' call to discipleship is a single call Come and follow. It is the singularity of Jesus' call, the simplicity of the call, that gives it his wholeness Now listen to the next part of the quote carefully.
Speaker 1:Whatever her vocation, the Christian carries it out as part of the single task of following Jesus, of simply being a Christian. Since some of you are already wandering you're looking around I'm going to make it more explicit.
Speaker 2:So you might be retired, you might be a plumber, you might be a parent, you might be a professor.
Speaker 1:You might be a kid, but whoever you are and whatever it is that you're doing in life, you are invited by God to be a student, a disciple of Jesus, and then bring that apostolic principle with you into everything you do. Underline that in your mind with a red pen, everything you do Now some of you are thinking well, how could I possibly?
Speaker 1:do that. Well, let's bring it down to a precision point. You are to do what Jesus does as you can in your situation, according to your gifts and limitations. I'm going to rewind that one. Feel free to join me. You are to do what Jesus does as you can in your situation, according to your gifts and abilities. So if that's the message of Jesus, which it is. You can look it up. In the Scriptures.
Speaker 2:You can find over 2,000 years of Christian teaching well then, what's the point of the church?
Speaker 1:Well then, every church, every local church, therefore, should be a missionary center for recruiting, training and encouraging and sending out these intentional Christians, these Kingdom workers, out into the world to respond to the harvest of human need, to do what Jesus does.
Speaker 2:So I got a question as you ponder this or as you wrestle with this, or as you disagree with it internally.
Speaker 1:What is one major outcome of Jesus-like work, of Kingdom work? Think about that.
Speaker 2:What's an outcome of Kingdom-like work of?
Speaker 1:Jesus-like work. What should happen? Let me ask it another way What's? one major result, one major thing that should follow from faithful discipleship, faithful living our faith, faithful Christian life. There's lots of things, but one major one is healing, healing. Turn to somebody and say healing. Now just think about it think about it.
Speaker 1:wherever Jesus went, people were healed. Wherever the apostles went, people were healed. Wherever the saints went, people were healed. So check it out as it brings down to our level, because maybe we're not in those categories, including myself and not being in that category, Wherever faithful Christians are, people should be healed, encouraged, comforted, lifted up, forgiven and set free. So, wherever faithful Christians are now, maybe you and I are not- we're certainly not perfect.
Speaker 2:We certainly mess up.
Speaker 1:We certainly have some days where we have no motivation at all to do it, but hopefully you and I are trying, with God's help, to be faithful in some way. So wherever faithful Christians are, people should be healed, encouraged, comforted, lifted up, forgiven and set free in some measure, in some way. And so that is a measure of your faith in mind as individuals. And that's a measure of the quote success of this church A measure, not the only measure, but a measure.
Speaker 1:In other words looking at your life as an individual, your life as a couple, your life as a family. Can you say God has been using us to bring healing to our lives and to people around us? Same?
Speaker 2:question for our church. Is God using?
Speaker 1:our church to bring healing to us and to the world around us. So I am not an emergency medical technician. I am not a medical doctor, And yet on that day I responded to the harvest of human need as I could.
Speaker 1:My part was very small, but it was significant. Now, when the experts arrive, the ambulances and all that and the police, what did I do? I prayed for them. I prayed for the people who were hurt, and there were some people who were pretty seriously hurt. I prayed for all. And that's something you could always do whatever situation is before you, and you don't have to be a spiritual doctor or a spiritual technician, a priest or a friar, something like that.
Speaker 2:You don't even have to be overly religious.
Speaker 1:Our goal here is not to make you overly religious, to make you more fully human, a more loving human being, and so all you have to do is be someone who believes in. God and then tries to respond to the situations in your daily life with a little faith. That's the Apostolic Principle And the good news of the. Apostolic Principle is that when you and I fail in our faith, will we fail in our faith. Yes, jesus does what?
Speaker 1:we cannot do and sustains us by His grace and forgiveness. And the further good news of the Apostolic Principle is that we do what Jesus does best when we live our faith in community with others. So, despite you, despite me, and because of me and you lives will be made better, encouraged, lifted up, forgiven and even transformed.
Speaker 2:This is what the Gospel is supposed to look like in everyday life, in the little messes and the big crashes.
Speaker 1:This is what Christianity is supposed to look like. This is your calling and mine, so let's live it together, amen.