Preserving the Missionary Call

Text: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Focus: Sacrificial living

Function: To help people refocus on Missionary call

Form: Expository

Intro:

Last week we saw how, when we are focused on Christ, we have a missionary call.

This week, we are looking at how easily we can be distracted from our calling.

The missionary call is a call to avoid the distractions presented by the culture around us and persevere in our real calling.

Paul is in prison and he is trying to keep Timothy focused on his job.

So he tells him to watch out for distractions that come in easily, that are very powerful and are issues that can easily get us off mission.

The way I see it, from this passage, there are three:

Through the selfish interests of others. 2). through persecution from others, and 3). Through inattention to scripture.

Avoiding these three distractions, can help us preserve Jesus' command to prove love our neighbors with at least the love we have for ourselves with the Missionary call, the great commandment.

So look at these distraction. THEY ARE REAL. And when we are experiencing them, they seem to be all important to us. But we need to see them for what they really are.

When I say they are real, I mean they are well crafted.

A few weeks ago, I finished the book Ezra in my morning devotions.

They had political battles among the people living in the land when they were trying to rebuild Jerusalem.

Their enemies were clever. They contacted the king, reminded him of how rebellious previous kings in Judah had been and scared him into thinking that he had to do something about it.

The king, being far away, sent a letter back to the people who lied to him, thanking them for warning him and ordered the Israelites to stop rebuilding the temple and the walls to Jerusalem.

So the Jews were just as clever, and when the next king came into power, they sent their own letters showing how the government had proposed to rebuild the temple, in order to bring back the blessing of God and the next king ordered it to be rebuilt. They only had to wait 20 years. And the temple was finished.

Distractions are clever and sometimes they work. Sometimes they stop the people of God from accomplishing the will of God.

And God is completely sovereign, even over distractions.

Half the time, they are a test, to see if we will trust God.

It isn't a test to prove us false, but tests designed to bring us blessing as people who are courageous enough to walk by faith.

So the first two distractions that Paul warns Timothy about come from outside sources.

The first is the selfishness of others.

My dad used to tell me, all the time, when I first went into Christian ministry. He would say: “Son, just because you are working with Christian people, it does not mean that you are always working with Christian values, convictions and principles. They, just like you, are still sinners. Be quick to forgive and as a pastor, try to lead them into what God is doing in their lives.” In other words, don’t be offended by the sins of others, even when it becomes personal. It is a distraction.

He was right. But at times, you can’t work around the selfishness of people. Sometimes, people don't want to be led, they want to be justified, even when they are wrong.

Paul warns Timothy about just how they have infiltrated the Church and how as time comes closer and closer to the end, it will get worse.

Listen to vs. 1-6 from the Message: ^1-5Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people. ⁶These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them…”

The core problem is “self-absorbed.:”

And it really distracts us from the Missionary call.

It isn't what God called us to do in the Church.

It isn't what God called Timothy, the pastor, to do with the Church.

Paul’s advice: “Don’t give into this problem.” “Timothy, don’t fall to that level.”

I have often thought that if people are using their gifts, sacrificially obeying Christ and doing Kingdom work, they won’t to fall into that trap.

Let me tell you a story. It is ridiculous, and sadly, it is completely true

One day, I get a call in my office from a woman from another Church. It almost made me to not want to publish my office hours.

“Pastor Reynolds, are you the pastor of NOT THIS CHURCH?” She asked.

I told her yes. She told me that her pastor suggested I call her for some advice.

Apparently, this woman’s church had switched from Mission mode, to Maintenance mode. In maintenance mode, all the pastor is called to do is to: “take care of them.” In mission mode, the job is to lead them into doing the great commandment.

She was stuck in maintenance. She thought it was all about her.

I asked her how I could help her.

She told me she was from another similar congregation and that one of my parishioners, she named him, was her next door neighbor.

She asked me if I could get him to stop using loud profanity in his back yard because his actions were so unchristlike.

If she could have seen me, she would have seen a confused twist of my lips. I knew the man had a temper, but he was raised very plain Mennonite and his family were some of the gentlest people I knew.

I asked her if she knew why he was swearing so loudly in his own back yard.

She told me he was swearing at her dogs. I asked her why. They barked. It happened every time he tried to enjoy his back yard.

He had a nice back yard.

Through the course of the conversation, I found out that she moved the dog kennel to the corner of her garage, right across the driveway from his back deck. She moved it because her dogs barked all the time and it annoyed her and her family.

I asked her why she was asking me for help.

Her answer was the she had went to him personally, and now, according to Luke 18, and her own pastor's advice, she was bringing it before the leaders of the Church.

She said it didn't make a difference that she was Mennonite and I was Brethren, there really is only one Church.

I asked her if her pastor really told her to talk to me.

I gotta warn you, when someone comes to me with the problem of “someone else’s sin” I am generally suspicious when someone comes to me with someone else’s sin. I remind them that there is nothing them and I can do about someone else. I always play the part of pastor and lead them into how they are responding and what attitudes do they need to correct in light of Christ.

So, I replied with the scripture, “As much as is possible within you, live at peace with all men.”

You know where this is going.

I asked her if that scripture meant anything TO HER about how she could solve the problem.

She hadn't a clue. Finally, I gave up and told her right out, “why don't you move your barking dogs, away from your neighbor’s deck, because that would be a fulfillment the verse.”

Of course, she had her rights to her own property, and the right to put her dogs where she pleased.

So she told me, “well, I am going to tell him I talked to you.”

And I said to her, “If he asks me, I will give him permission to swear at your dogs as long has he doesn't take the name of the Lord in vain.”

To which, she hung up the phone. Of course, I didn't tell him to cuss her dogs out. He never asked and she never moved the dogs.

Selfishness distracts Kingdom work. Did Jesus ever intend for pastors to be taking sides over such petty issues between believers? Or, does Jesus want us to lead people into faithfully responding to the great commission?

The Church has done itself a disfavor. It has allowed people to become selfish. It has fallen to the level of the culture that keeps up its marketing scams, that tell us we deserve bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger appetites, and smaller bodies. The selfish attitude of our culture tells us that more is obviously proof of God's blessing. But it isn't.

Listen to these words from Jesus to the Church culture that has a self-absorbed attitude instead of a servants heart. To a church that maintains itself instead of following the missional call:

Revelation 3:To Laodicea

¹⁴Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God's Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God's creation, says:

^15-17"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

¹⁸"Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

Second distraction: Persecution. This also happens from external forces.

Look at verse 12: ¹²Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

ALL. Expect it. It is proof of being faithful.

He mentions city after city where he was persecuted.

Persecution comes from 2 sources: The first source is unbelievers.

And sadly, it comes from those believers who are still selfish.

So go back to the lady and the dogs.

I guess I should have been grieved, but the selfishness of that woman was so blatant that my cynical side took over and I found her actions to be so incredibly childish and self-righteous that it was amusing. You can either laugh, or cry about that kind of behavior. I chose to laugh.

I told Kathy what I said: “If he asks me, I'll tell him he has my permission to swear...”

And I admit, sometimes my sense of humor gets me in trouble because it offends people, especially people like my wife who are pretty black and white thinkers.

And Kathy said, “but what if she reports back to the head deacon, or chairman of the board here? Won't you get in trouble? How will you explain that you didn't mean it, you were just showing the lady that she needed to repent of her dogs annoying her brother in Christ and do something about it herself?”

I said to Kathy. Here is the problem with believers who are self-absorbed. They are so busy acting like Christians that they forget to act like Christians. She was so upset about the language, because that was a provable sin in the life of her neighbor, that she refused to look at her own sin of inconsideration. Her sin that was legitimately upsetting her brother in Christ.

All of this. Her wasting my time with a petty dispute that she was in complete power to change. But more than that, her wasting God's time with a petty dispute against her brother in the Lord is a complete distraction to the mission. Was she right? Should her Christian neighbor stop cussing loudly in her backyard?

Of course. She had legitimate proof of his sin.

But in whose eyes was she justifying herself? Certainly not in the eyes of God.

She has the log in her eye while trying to remove the mote.

If she would have just stopped and remembered that she is left here on this planet because God has a job for her to do and that job is about preparing her family, and herself doing God's work in bringing the lost to Christ, the issue with her neighbor would have been changed.

We get distracted by issues. At the time, they seem huge. From her perspective, this so called Christian man was using foul language in front of her children and she, as a good Christian mother should, needed to protect them. How could she explain to her kids that it is sometimes okay for believers to speak like this?

In the process of educating her kids, it was important to her to change his behavior.

She had convinced herself that her behavior and cause were just. And the reason was because she was refusing her missionary call. She was refusing to live for Jesus. She was more interested in justifying herself than doing the work of the Kingdom. THAT IS WHY I AM SUSPICIOUS OF PEOPLE COMPLAINING OF THE SINS OF OTHERS.

And quickly, the third distraction is in abandoning scripture.

Paul says, The Word of God is inspired. It is here to reprove, rebuke, teach and train.

Inspired literally means: “God breathed.”

For this woman, it was only God breathed when it justified herself not when it reproved or rebuked herself.

And this is the role of the pastor. To be able to learn, and live this book, as the God's breathed revelation of Himself, His passion and His desire to His pastors and leaders.

This is a call to Pastor Timothy. Use this book. In it you will be able to teach and train, and if necessary, you will be able to reprove and rebuke.

I hate those last two jobs, but sometimes it is necessary and I don't shrink away, not matter what it costs me. As God said to Moses, Choose leaders who fear me more than the people so that they will be faithful. I try the same thing.

And, if we forget the principles and their importance, we will allow others to be distracted.

I saw a comic. A rich couple were coming out of a beautiful church. She was wearing a fur robe, he had a top-hat. She said to him: “That preacher is pretty good at not offending us while he is preaching that book.”

The comic, in the New Yorker magazine implied that he should have been offending them.

I remember a man in my church, who was paid staff, but a lowly position being offended at the Board Chairman. The Board Chairman had a business, a struggling business, but he employed 5 people, 2 of which also attended the Church. The staff member was poor and for some reason, never lucky enough to get out of it. These men were at odds with each other, and it was a real case of class prejudice, the poorer class judging the class that was not poor.

He came to me all excited and wanted me to correct a great sin in the Church. He told me that heard the board Chairman's son talking about a beer commercial he saw in such a way that validated the drinking of beer.

What was I, the boy and his father's pastor going to do about it? After all, it was my job to rebuke the boy and the father.

I told him to mind his own business, the sins of others were not his problem, he had a history of distrust with the man and his motives for coming to me were suspect.

I used the scripture that Love means we believe the best, not the worst about one another and that he should repent.

You see, Satan wants to distract us from legitimate calling and mission with other issues.

And the man of God, knows and uses the Word of God as it applies to his individuals congregants in their own context, not in their concern for others.

This pettiness will cease when we focus on our mission.