Jesus doesn't want the best, he wants you

What follows is the text from the sermon I gave at our church today.

Jesus doesn't want the best, he wants you

August 10, 2014

Matthew 14:22-33

Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the mediation of our hearts together be pleasing to you, Oh God.  Amen

 In light of the local flooding this past week, it seems appropriate that our Gospel for today deals with water. On Wednesday, the Men’s Breakfast group found ourselves hurrying to finish our meal before the table was completely surrounded by water, had we stayed much longer we may have needed Jesus help getting out of Shari’s. As it was, Russell attempted walking on water but ended up with wet feet.

There is a book I often use as a resource when I am teaching marketing and management classes to small business owners.  It is entitled The E-Myth and was written by Michael Gerber.  The book is about system theory and how to incorporate those practices into a successful business model.  One of the primary premises presented in the book deals with creating the most productive workflow at the least amount of expense and least amount of labor. 

Gerber lays out in the book how in the formation of a functional system, an order of steps need to be created which can be easily duplicated.  Let me give you a great example of this.  A McDonalds Big Mac is a McDonalds Big Mac.  It doesn’t matter where you go the Big Mac is pretty much the same from any McDonalds. 

This occurs because McDonalds has created a system for making the Big Mac and every other product they sell.  In fact they have a college where management employees and franchise owners can be trained on successfully executing the system.  It’s called Hamburger University, it is a real place, in Chicago, Illinois.

They teach everything from the amount of condiment to use to the placement of the pickles so they don’t fall out of the bun.  Why, is how a Big Mac made so important to McDonalds?  Two reasons, it assures that every Big Mac is the same whether it is in Bloomington, IL or here in Twin Falls, ID. 

So when you go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac anywhere your expectations are met based on your previous experience.  But, more importantly, for McDonalds, it creates a system which is efficient, is easily duplicated and can be performed by the least qualified person.

With such a system in place McDonalds is able to hire the people with the lowest level of skill, train them in the system, which allows them to perform the task of successfully making the Big Mac on a consistent basis.

Today’s Gospel picks up where we left off last week.  Jesus has just fed the five thousand men plus the women and children who had been gathered to hear him. Needing to be fed, He had performed one of his best known miracles by turning five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed them all with plenty of leftovers. 

We hear in our Gospel today that He went to the mountain alone to pray.  The fact Matthew mentions Jesus praying indicates that big stuff is about to happen in His ministry.

The disciples, having been sent to the other side of the sea by Jesus, were adrift on the water and now far away from shore.  Their boat had been tossed around by the wind and the waves and they were adrift.  It was now, during the fourth watch, which indicates a period between 3am and daybreak.  Because of the early morning darkness, the disciples became afraid of the storm. 

This is when a figure appeared to them, thinking it to be a ghost, they became more frightened.  It was now that Jesus spoke to them saying, “Take heart it is I. Do not be afraid” take special note of the phrase “It is I”.  Remember, in Exodus 3:14, Moses asking God, “Who do I tell them you are?”  From the burning bush God responds with similar words, “I am that I am.”  The expression of “I am” in Moses encounter indicates God.  When we hear Jesus saying, “It is I” we sense once again that it is God.

 In today’s Gospel lesson, we find Peter, yep good ole Peter, who thought because Jesus could walk on water he should be able to do the same.  You know, as I have read more and more about the disciples, I have come to realize that Jesus, too, had found those with the least possible level of skill to be his disciples.

Let’s take a look at these twelve “pillars of the community” Jesus selected to be his disciples:  Simon (whom Jesus nicknamed 'Peter' meaning the 'Rock') Andrew, his brother who were both fishermen, James and his brother John, they were teenage boys and Zebedee was their father he was also a fisherman, so it is assumed that they would have followed on in his profession. Matthew, was a tax collector, the rest of the disciples’: James, the son of Alpheus, Philip, and Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel'), Thomas ('the twin'), Thaddeus, also called 'Judas' or 'Jude', Simon the Zealot, and, Judas Iscariot. (We know Judas as the one who betrayed Jesus), their occupations were unknown but we can rest assured he didn’t find them roaming the halls of an Ivy League University.  These chosen twelve were not statesman, politicians, scholars, known leaders, nor were they rich or famous.  They were regular Joes, common folks leading very ordinary lives.

A while back, Mark Brunell and I were in the back of the sanctuary talking during a church workday.  As our conversation progressed, Mark would periodically walk to the door, open it, and yell green side up.  After about the tenth time, I finally asked him what he was doing.  It was then he explained that Claiborne was outside laying sod.  You see sometimes we need the willing worker not necessarily the one best suited for the job.

Why, why would Jesus choose the less gifted, less smart, less talented to do this most important work of witnessing and then proclaiming what they had seen? After all there were many occasions when these guys abandon Jesus, most notable in the garden the night he was betrayed.  While he prayed, they slept.

Let’s consider Peter further.  Here we have the first chosen disciple, Peter the apostle is one of the most prominent characters in the Gospels, a rough and tumble man whose emotions often got him into trouble, and yet he was clearly one of the favorites of Jesus Christ, who loved him for his big heart.  Not for his wit or intelligence but for his big heart.

When confronted with the inexplicable reality of a God who controls chaos with his toes, Peter does the inexplicable: he asks to meet Jesus in the raging water. The text does not say that Jesus calmed the seas to make Peter’s steps easier. In fact, it is the wind that frightens Peter and causes him to sink. It was only Jesus’ call that made it possible for Peter to make any strides in the first place.

His aggressiveness made Peter a natural spokesman for the twelve. Often, however, he spoke before he thought, and his words led to embarrassment.  We remember Peter for denying Christ three times during the night of Jesus' trial. Following his resurrection, Jesus took special care to rehabilitate Peter and assure him he was forgiven.

Jesus included Peter in his inner circle when he took Peter, James, and John into the house of Jairus, where Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead (Mark 5:35-43). Later, Peter was among those same disciples Jesus chose to witness the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9). Those same three also saw Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33-42). 

I can’t help but wonder if Peter was included in Jesus’ inner circle because he needed more help in learning and understanding what Jesus was all about and he needed to witness and experience these events for himself in order to believe and understand what Jesus was teaching them.  His training was much more hands on.  He would have done well at McDonald’s. Once he had learned the system he was good to replicate it.  In fact, we know he was aggressive which lead him to be a strong witness for Jesus.

Don’t misunderstand, Peter’s transformation from disciple to apostle. For those in adult Sunday school last week, you will remember Pastor Steve explained the difference between disciples and apostles; disciples are those who follow and apostles are those who proclaim the gospel.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the apostles. Peter was so overcome that he began to preach to the crowd. Acts 2:41 tells us 3,000 people were converted that day. Through the remainder of that book, Peter and John were persecuted for their stand for Christ.  Peter would go on to become a cornerstone of the church. His zealous preaching and devotion to Jesus and the Gospel would lead to his being martyred.

As for the rest of the disciples, we know, they too were cowering in the boat when Jesus appeared to them. However, they chose to stay where they were, to stay in the safety and comfort of the boat and Jesus came to them.  The boat very much represents the Kingdom of God, when we are in the kingdom we find safety and security.  When we wander out on our own, like Peter, we flounder and fail.  As we live in the kingdom we are challenged by many outside influences, money, power, the belief we can walk on water, all of these things lead us away from God’s Kingdom.  But Jesus calls us back, lifts us up, and gently places us back in the boat.

We are now challenged to become voices for Jesus, as followers we are called to share the good news. 

Susie and I went rafting a couple of weeks ago up at Anderson Ranch Dam, with her brother Dennis, her sister-in-law Mary, and our pet nephew, Wally the wonder dog.  As we were driving to our launch point we were viewing the devastation from last year’s wildfires. 

What was most amazing to me were the yellow rudbeckia which had grown out of the ash and were in bloom.  This area had been completely burnt out, yet from this supposed dead soil grew life.  Life from death, hope of renewal. 

This is us.  We have been planted in soil which is dead, but through the promises of the Gospel and the infusion of the Holy Spirit, the ground has been made fertile, we have been given a new life, a new covenant.  By God’s grace we ordinary, least qualified people have been given the promises of God’s Kingdom.

You see, like the McDonalds employees and the disciple, we are all the least qualified. We are broken, we are unfocused, and we are at times the least “Christian” of people. But, through Jesus Christ we are made perfect to serve. 

To carry out his call to us to share the Good News.  Sometimes clumsily, sometimes uncomfortably, but God doesn’t ask us to be perfect, he simply asks us to do our best, with the assurance that He is with us.

In our second reading today from Romans, Paul writes two passages of note:

First, verses 6-8:  ⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 

The Gospel is the source of faith because it both invites and creates faith

And verse 14: ¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 

Paul’s questions are designed to teach by God’s design, faith is created only through the Word proclaimed. 

The apostle’s, in this case Paul’s, spirit had to be shaped according to the Father’s will. And the Lord kept working on him long after Paul left the desert and began his ministry. Every person who reads his letters is a witness to the work of God in a submissive man.

 Like Paul, you are the Holy Spirit’s student, and the knowledge you reap from Scripture should be changing your life. Be like the apostle in this way to become a disciple maker by sharing what you learn with others.

You see God has created the perfect system.  A system by which even we can all follow.  He made it simple so even the least qualified could be successful. It’s a system by which we receive the word and are simply asked to share it with others by loving them.  In doing so we have completed the two things he asked us to do:  love everyone and proclaim the good news.