Being Restored for Christ – God is Calling, It’s time to be Restored (Part IV)
Sermon Title: Being Restored for Christ – It’s Time to be Restored
Good News Statement: God restores us by Calling Us
Summary: This sermon addresses God’s call to every person to have a relationship with Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus, and to be in ministry with Jesus.
Preached: Sunday, November 17th, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC
Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.
Scripture (NRSV): Ephesians 2:8-10: Today’s scripture reading comes from Paul’s letter to the people of Ephesus. In his letter, we are called to think about our relationship with Christ, what it takes to be a disciple of Christ, and why Jesus needs us to be in ministry with Jesus as we become restored. Let’s read from Paul’s letter to the people of Ephesus: Chapter Two, Verses Eight thru Ten. May the hearing and reading of this scripture add understanding and meaning to your life.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.
The Word of God, for the People of God; And all God’s People said, “Thanks Be To God.”
Introduction:
Restoration: the act of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition. The act of restoration involves the process of repairing or renovating a building, work of art, vehicle, furniture, a church, and the list could go on. Restoration also involves reinstating a previous practice, right, custom, or situation. I’m sure many of us here have restored something in our life: whether it be a tractor, an old car, a piece of furniture, something within your house, or maybe you restored a relationship, your faith, your commitment to the church, or even your trust in Christ. Restoration is part of our life; and believe it or not, it’s part of our faith journey as well.
For the next couple of weeks, we are going to think about the concept of restoration through a faithful lens. Through this lens, the restoration upon which we will undergo is not physical, or emotional, nor mental. Rather, it will be a spiritual restoration that urges us to be found amongst the weeds and miry clay, to take inventory of our life and to see what is missing and what is needed to move forward, to remind ourselves that God has provided us a manual to read and study, and lastly the work of restoration is an ongoing process. Like the hundreds of pieces of furniture that I have recovered and restored, and like all the classic cars and tractors that have been restored and appear at car shows and tractor shows, we, too, need to be restored for Christ if we want to follow in his footsteps—preaching his word, saving the lost, comforting the hurting, and being a church mission bound and mission focused. Restoration is part of our faith journey, and today we embark on that journey to be restored for Christ. Do you need to be restored today? Our journey continues by reminding ourselves of the “Manual” that can lead us to being restored: The Bible.
Body:
Three weeks ago, we began our journey toward being restored for Christ: the idea that we admit/confess that we are broken, worn-out, tired, and are in need of being mended, healed, and in a sense refreshed and rejuvenated. To help us understand the idea of restoration, we have been examining HotWheels: HotWheels that are missing wheels, have broken windows, bent axels, chipped paint, held together by glue and tape alongside of HotWheels that have never been out of their original packaging and those placed in cases that are as pristine and perfect as they can be.
We, at times, are like those HotWheels that have seen better days: missing wheels, our paint is chipped and possibly faded, we have a few cracks, or we no longer look like we did or are able to do things we did several years ago. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t be restored. Our life (and our faith) can become like those cars that are in cases and packages. Just because we aren’t perfect now, doesn’t mean we can’t become perfect later. Just because we may be hitting a wall now, doesn’t mean that the wall can’t come tumbling down. Just because we feel overwhelmed and stressed doesn’t mean that peace and direction can’t be received. It’s through restoration in Christ that we become new!
In order to be restored, we first had to let God find us where we are. We had to let him find us in the weeds and miry clay of life: the pain, suffering, hurting, confusion, and grief. Just like the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to search for the one lost sheep, our good shepherd, Jesus Christ, will come and search for the one lost soul because without that lost soul the Kingdom of God is incomplete. Jesus will search for you because he needs you to be restored for advancing the Kingdom of God here on here. Additionally, just like the woman in search of her one lost coin—a day’s worth of wages—Jesus will overturn furniture, rugs, and look in dark corners to find us—to find you. Jesus is willing to overturn the world just to find you because through your restoration you will be able to set the world on the right path. And as we allow ourselves to be found, we allow Christ to show us our gifts and talents: those things that we have been gifted by Christ to live the life he has given us. Are you ready to be found?
After being found, God invites us to take an inventory of our faith and life. God, through Jesus feeding the four-thousand, tells us that taking an inventory not only helps us understand and witness our own needs and the state of our own faith, but it allows us to open our eyes to the needs of the people around us and the state of the church. When we take an inventory of our life—what is working and not working, what is good and bad, where are we today and where should we be tomorrow—we need to know the reason for our inventory, the reaction to our inventory, the resources we have related to our inventory, and the result of following through with our inventory. Through reason, reaction, resource, and result, our inventory of faith becomes the next stepping stone to being restored because it allows us to see what we need, what is missing, and how God is working in our life. Once we take that inventory, then it’s time to put the pieces together. And the only way we can properly put the pieces together is by following some sort of manual—some sort of instruction booklet. As followers of Christ, we call this Manual the Bible—beloved instructions before leaving earth.
The Barna Research group says that 93% of Americans own a Bible, but only 12% read it every day. Only one in seven read it at least once a month. In order for restoration to occur, you must strive to belong to the 12% of people who read their Bible every day. When we read the Bible—and allow God’s inspired and breathed word to find us—we will see, according to the Apostle Paul—writing to Timothy—that the Word of God is useful in our life and for our faith as it reveals who God is to us. The Word of God teaches us how to live like Christ, how to seek forgiveness of our sins, how our life can be changed and transformed, what is needed in order to be trained as a volunteer for Jesus, and what sort of maintenance is needed to equip us to do good works. The Bible is more than just some manual that we get when we purchase something, that sits in a drawer and only used or read when something goes wrong. The Bible is the inspired word of God that can change us, heal us, save us, and restore us; and it deserves to be part of our life. It deserves to be the one manual that you read every day. (Just think if we read the Bible as often as we checked Facebook!)[1] As you read God’s manual, you will be able to put the pieces, the parts, together. As the pieces come together, the restoration will become something real!
Today, we conclude this year’s Fall Sermon Series focused on restoration by realizing that after being restored for Christ, it’s time to move forward, to have a deeper relationship with Jesus, to be a disciple and church of Jesus, and to be in ministry with Jesus. Essentially, through being restored, we encounter God calling us to do something for Jesus or with Jesus. The Apostle Paul, again, will help us fulfill our wanting to be restored.
Movement One: God is Calling you into a RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS…
You are a masterpiece in progress: someone that has been “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the image of God (Psalm 139:13-14). God created you to do good. God created you to serve Him. God created you to be the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth. However, because of sin, and a stubborn self-will, we do not always abide by what God created us to do. As a matter of fact, we don’t always listen to God. We do not hear the voice of God calling our name. Through restoration, God is calling you into a relationship with Jesus but are you listening?
Look at Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul wrote to the people of Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” Setting aside the idea that we have been saved through our faith—our commitment to and surrender to Jesus Christ—as well as receiving the free gift of grace from God, God is inviting you into a relationship with Him. It is a relationship based on faith, your trust in Jesus. It is a relationship based on the work of salvation done by Jesus, given by Jesus, and worked out by Jesus. The relationship that God wants you to have is not a relationship of your own doing but a relationship that He created just for you. God has done all the work already; all you have to do is being willing to have a relationship with his Son.
Matthew extends this same principle in his own Gospel as he recounts the beginning of his own relationship with Jesus. Matthew 9:9-13 reads, “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’”
Matthew wasn’t the most liked man of his time. After all, his job was to collect money from the people whether or not they had a lot, some, or none at all. Matthew was a sinner. Using Matthew’s account, we learn that Jesus is calling all sinners into a relationship with him. The relationship he is inviting you into is one based on love and mercy. It is not a relationship that condones a sinful lifestyle. Instead, it is a relationship that transforms a sinner into a saint. It is a relationship that offers forgiveness for sin. It is relationship that allows you to stand before an almighty, pure God without spot or blemish: to have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus is calling you into a relationship with him, just as he called Matthew and thousands of others.
It’s not just sinners that Jesus is calling to have a relationship with. Returning to Matthew’s Gospel, we read these words from Jesus, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The context of this passage is that Jesus is calling those who are oppressed, tired, worn-out, worried, and overwhelmed with heavy burdens. Back in the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had become oppressed by a system filled with laws that no one could keep. Judaism had become a religion of works and judgment, not of faith and love and grace; therefore, Jesus was calling them because it was time for them to be restored.
Too often, Christianity has become a religion of works and judgment rather than a religion of faith and love. Too often, Christianity has lost sight of the relationship and focused on the preservation of an institution or program. Jesus is calling all those who have been hurt by something or by someone into a relationship with him. A relationship based not on rules and regulations, but on love, mercy, and faith: a relationship that offers healing and hope, not oppression and despair; and a relationship where one can grow and mature in Christ; and a relationship in which you can become the person God intended you to be when He created you.
Jesus is calling you into a relationship with him. Will you accept? When will you stop trying to save yourself and trust Jesus? When will you stop wallowing in your self-pity and let Jesus fill you with hope? Are you tired? Are you weary of carrying heavy burdens? Are you a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness? Answer Jesus’ call and join into a relationship with him. To be fully restored means to strive to have a relationship with Jesus by which the gift of grace saves you through your faith. Jesus wants to have a relationship with you, but will you let him?
Movement Two: God is Calling you to be a DISCIPLE OF JESUS
The other component of being fully restored is found in the ideals that God wants you to be a disciple of Jesus. We find this, again, in the words of Matthew. Matthew wrote in Matthew 4:18-22, “As [Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” A few verses later, we read, “One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them” (Matthew 5:1, NLT).
Now, a disciple is someone who submits themselves to the teaching and coaching of another. If you want the full benefit of being a Christian, you need to respond to God’s call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. John Ortberg, in his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, puts into perspective of what it may look like today for someone to be called to do something that they never thought possible.
Imagine a group of people coming to your home and interrupting your Twinkie-eating, TV-watching routine with an urgent message: “Good News! We’re from the United States Olympic Committee. We have been looking for someone to run the marathon in the next Olympics. We have statistics on every person in the entire nation on computer. We have checked everybody’s records – their performance in the president’s fitness test in grade school, body type, bone structure, right down to their current percentage of body fat. We have determined that out of two hundred million people, you are the one person in America with a chance to bring home the gold medal in the marathon. So you are on the squad. You will run the race. This is the chance of a lifetime.”
You are surprised by this because the farthest you have ever run is from the couch to the refrigerator. But after the first shock passes, you are gripped by the realization of what’s happening in your life. You picture yourself mingling with the elite athletes of the world. You allow yourself to imagine that maybe you do have what it takes. At night you dream about standing on the podium after the race and hearing the national anthem, seeing the flag raised, and bending low to receive the gold medal.
You begin to feel a sense of urgency. It will be your body wearing those little racing togs, with a billion people watching on television. But greater than any external pressure is the internal drive that says, “This is the race I was created to run. This is my destiny. This is why I was born. Here’s my chance!”
This race becomes the great passion of your life. It dominates your mind. It occupies every waking moment. To run the race – to win if you can – become the central focus of your existence. It is what gets you out of bed in the morning. It is what you live for. It is the chance of a lifetime.
Then it dawns on you: Right now you cannot run a marathon. More to the point, you cannot run a marathon even if you try really hard. Trying hard can accomplish only so much. If you are serious about seizing this chance of a lifetime, you will have to enter a life of training. You must arrange your life around certain practices that will enable you to do what you cannot do now by willpower alone. When it comes to running a marathon, you must train, not merely try.”[2]
There are two things from this story that I wish to highlight. First, did you notice how the person—the very person who was eating Twinkies and watching T.V.—was singled-out, called upon, because of a skill that resided within them? Those who came to tell him this news were not concerned about the box of Twinkies on the couch or the show that was on the T.V. Instead, they showed interest in what the person didn’t realize they had. They showed belief before the person did. When Jesus calls us to become a disciple, sure he notices our physical characteristics and routine, but he is more concerned with the gifts and talents that reside within us: the very gifts and talents that God has gifted to us, planted in our life so that we can be who He needs us to be. When one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus, their gifts and talents are restored: they begin to have faith again, hope again, trust again, believe again, and persevere again. To allow yourself to become a disciple of Jesus means that—at some point—Jesus will ask you to get off the couch. Jesus will look at you and say, “It’s time to use what I have given you. Those in your life, those at your job, and those in your church will come to know me through your gifts.” To be restored for Christ means to be willing to use what God has given you.
Second, did you notice how this illustration ended? Let me remind you: “When it comes to running a marathon, you must train, not merely try” because this is a chance of a lifetime. On the one hand, some of you enjoy trying new things, taking risks, and embracing challenges. You thrive knowing that what you do may not work out in your favor. You’re okay with realizing that what you try may result in failure. Striking out at the plate, knowing that your swing is getting better each time, is perfectly fine with you. On the other hand, some of you are okay with simply watching others try new things. You’re just fine with how things are. Being a disciple involves being willing to try new things: to make attempts to try what Jesus is calling you to do; but it’s not just trying something that makes you a disciple. What makes you a disciple is this idea of training. Being a disciple of Jesus means that you are willing to go through some training and conditioning as you submit yourself to a higher authority. This training involves praying, surrendering everything to God, using your gifts and talents, sharing the good news, seeking out and saving the lost, taking care of those around you, building up the church, and being Jesus’ hands and feet on this earth. Before we run that marathon, we have to train as often as we can because being a disciple is a chance of a lifetime.
Now that we are found, we have taken an inventory, and are reading God’s manual, we are called to be restored by submitting or re-submitting our will to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. To be restored for Christ means to accept his invite to be a disciple. The question is are you willing to run the marathon that is before you for Christ?
Movement Three: God is Calling you to be IN MINISTRY…
God is calling you to a relationship with Jesus. God is calling to be a disciple of Jesus. And now God is calling you to be in ministry with Jesus. Luke 10:1-4, when informing us about the mission of the seventy-two, states, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.’ Later on in the New Testament, we read these words from 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Though many of us have seen pictures of a huge eagle’s nest high in the branches of a tree or in the crag of a cliff, few of us have gotten a glimpse inside. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs. By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals make them quite reluctant to leave. That’s when the mother eagle begins “stirring up the nest.” With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behavior.
You see, just like the mother eagle, Jesus is “stirring up the nest.” His intentions are not meant for us to feel uncomfortable, but rather to motivate us to get out into the world and serve others: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus, through “stirring up the nest”, wants us to take what he has given us and share it with others because he knows that the more we share about him, the more our faith will be restored; the more we think beyond the four walls, the more people will be saved; and the more we think about where we are today and where we want to be tomorrow and the more we will begin to see what he has in store for our lives and the legacy of our church. We are called to be in ministry with Jesus because to be in ministry with Jesus means that he needs us.
As you allow yourself to be restored, take note of the ministry ideas and work that God is giving you. Some of your ideas might “stir up the nest,” but some of your ideas might just reveal what has been hidden for some time that no longer needs to be hidden, that no longer needs to be there. Each of you are called, in some way, shape, and form, to be ministers for Jesus’ ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). Through restoration, Jesus will reveal what he needs you to do, what our church needs to do, to better fulfill the needs of his ministry on earth.
Conclusion:
Over the past few weeks we have been discussing the idea of being restored. I’ve invited you to allow God to find you where you are, to take an inventory of your faith, and to take more time reading and studying God’s manual so you know how the pieces fit together. And today, I’ve invited you to consider what Jesus is calling you to do as he restores you: have a relationship with him, become a disciple for him, and be in ministry with him. All of these stages of restoration involve work, commitment, and evaluation. So, now the question you need to ask yourself is, “Do I need to be restored for Christ?” And as a church, we need to ask ourselves, “What do we need to do to be restored to fulfill the mission that Christ has given us?”
As you think about these questions, I encourage you to hear these words from Taylor Harris, who so happens to have in her possession a restored or fixed up 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Sedan Coupe. She shared with me, “My Grandpa, Lee Berry, bought the car in 1951 for $925.00 as his first car. He was 20 at the time and his father, Zelus, had to cosign for him. Grandpa drove the car for 16 years until he parked it. The car sat for many years outside in the weather until he retired in 1993 and began restoring it; all the while he had been buying parts. He had parts stored in all rooms of the house and garage as he started to put it back together.
Grandpa did all the work by himself, except for painting the car. I was the only one that could be in the garage with him while he worked on it. He started going to car shows in 1999 and continued to go until he got too sick in 2004. When he did pass away in August of 2004 Grandma gave the car to one of his sons but after a year or two decided he couldn’t keep up with it. His son then gave the car back to grandma and she gave it to me. My first car show was in 2007 and I try to go to one at least once a year. Between grandpa and me, we have accumulated over 80 trophies, including several best of shows.”
When you allow God to restore you—even if you have been sitting idle for several years or feel as if your cracked windows, missing tires, broken axels, and chipped up paint can be replaced—you can become just like that 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Sedan Coupe or like the Hotwheels in these packages and cases: ready to do what Christ needs you to do. However, you have to take the initiative and start the restoration process. You may not receive 80 trophies by the end, but you will receive the best reward anyone can ever receive: the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
You have been found, you have taken an inventory, God’s manual is before you, and now Jesus wants to have a relationship with you so that you can become his disciple for his ministry. Are you willing to be restored for Christ? Are you willing to do some work to keep your faith and church alive?
Let it be so…
Closing Prayer:
Dear God, restore us by finding us, training us, and teaching us to be your disciple so that your ministry remains on this earth and part of our lives. In your mighty name we pray, Amen.
Invitation: Now that we have talked about restoration, I invite you to keep the conversation going. Therefore, hopefully before the end of the year, I am going to invite the church to have an informal meeting with me to discuss this idea of restoration and what it means for the church. This meeting will be for you to share your thoughts, ideas, concerns, and praises as we move forward doing what Christ needs us to do. (Of course, you can share your thoughts with me whenever.)
Benediction:
This week, know that Jesus is inviting you to be restored. He knows what you are capable of. And he knows how our church can become the place that people find Christ. Are you willing to be restored for Christ? May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; and May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26). In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go forth finding ways to be restored for Christ. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.
[1] For those that have a smart phone, I encourage you to download some sort of Bible App that can send you notifications, particularly a Bible Verse every day. I use the app called “Holy Bible”, and every day at 8:12 in the morning a bible verse appears on my phone screen.
[2] John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pp. 45-46.
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