Living Out The Gospel

Matthew 25:31-40

 “Living Out the Gospel”

06 September 2015 St. Andrew’s Chapel Singapore

“Preach the Gospel, use words when necessary.” Famous and deep words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi and a pretty good summation of this passage. Now, this is a tough passage to hear because this is Christ calling us out. I know you say you believe and are following me, but if you aren’t immersed in the pain of the world you won’t find me.

We don’t like to sit with pain, we hate to see suffering, we don’t like to be uncomfortable at all. I’ve often heard that one of the jobs of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Based on this passage, maybe that mandate is a call for all Christians, for we are all called to minister to the world in accordance with our gifts.

So today, you won’t hear my voice as much as the voices of those who chose to step into discomfort and sit with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner. At some point each of these people experienced a moment that illuminated their calling in a sort of Popeye moment where they thought, “I’s got to do what I’s got to do.”

In 1998 a former Marine Chaplain’s Assistant during Vietnam who later went and earned a Master of Divinity and was ordained in the Methodist church realized there is enough food to feed everyone about 4 pounds a day. He left his job at another aid agency and started a charity Stop Hunger Now which in just 17 years has packaged over 211 million meals in 71 countries. (Play video)

In 2004, Scott Harrison felt spiritually bankrupt and made a trip to Africa with Mercy Ships, which we’ll highlight shortly. He saw the joy in the volunteers he journeyed with and he fell in love with Liberia. He recognized the need for clean water and used his Manhattan connections to fund wells around the water with his organization Charity:Water. (Play video)

Gary Haugen was a human rights lawyer for the US focused on cases of police misconduct. In 1994, he was sent to Rwanda with the UN to investigate the genocide there. What he saw changed his life. He realized that the rule of law was important for protecting the poor around the world. Because of this he started International Justice Mission in 1997 and they are a key player in combatting the trafficking in persons right in our neighborhood in SE Asia. (Play video)

In 1952, the American evangelist Everett Swanson travelled to South Korea to preach to US servicemen and was convicted to help the orphans he encountered. Over time, the name changed to Compassion International and thousands of children each year are cared for, educated and introduced to Christ through partnerships with local churches, many in countries we partner with for CARAT.

In 1978 Don and Deyon Stephens heeded God’s call on their lives to bring the love of Christ to those in medical need. So, he bought a ship on which they lived for the next 10 years, and took it to ports in poor countries to provide life changing surgery free of charge. Additionally, everyone onboard the ships are there voluntarily and pay their own way. (Play video)

From 1969-1973 Charles Colson was Richard Nixon’s hatchet man in the administration. A ruthless operator, he was convicted during Watergate and spent 7 months in prison. He became a Christian just a year before his time in prison. During his incarceration, he saw a need for ministry to his fellow inmates so upon his release he founded International Prison Fellowship. (play video)

All of these are just a small sample of the many ways in which people are the hands and feet of Christ in the world. We aren’t all called to found NGOs. We are just called to give Christ our time, talent, and treasure both locally here in the chapel community and in the larger world.

Maybe we volunteer our time to help lead worship, sing in the praise band, or take and count the offering on Sundays. Maybe we volunteer with AWANA, the youth group, or Sunday School. It doesn’t have to be every week for if we all pitch in, we get to share the load. Perhaps we share our time through service in the wider community through Scouts, a soup kitchen, coaching a sport, and other community service opportunities available.

Perhaps we want to offer our talents and sing a solo or present another talent during the offertory. Maybe we share our talents with the local community by sewing clothes, knitting for newborns with Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, etc.

For some of us, our lives are so busy that we can’t imagine putting any extra time into our schedule for volunteering or taking on any additional responsibilities. Well, you can still live into this scripture by funding not just these Christian charities highlighted today, but many others that you have encountered in your lives. Aid agencies need financing and some of us are better equipped for that than others. The money from our offering gets spent in many ways. From providing food at fellowship events to directly funding Christ centered charities. In the coming weeks, we’ll have a discussion as to where those funds are going and where we think they are best directed going forward.

There are many ways to glorify Christ in our actions to the sick, hungry, thirsty, poor, naked, stranger, and prisoner we encounter in our lives and even the ones we may never encounter on this side of eternity. Christ calls us to action and to a living faith so that when he sees us we didn’t know we were serving him. He wants us to live in such a way that, because we treat everyone as if they are Christ among us, we don’t realize he was in front of us the entire time. Then, on that day we’ll say, “when did we encounter you among the suffering” and he’ll respond with “good and faithful servant, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”