I am glad you are here this morning. I am glad that you set your alarm, woke up on time (or at least close to on time), got up, got ready, and came to Church. If you came to Sunday school, then I am glad you stayed for the service. I am glad that you did not grow weary of the standing and stayed through the singing. If you gave to the offering plate, then I am glad and thankful for whatever you could give. I am glad that you came to Church this morning.
Certain prayers have become famous throughout history. The Serenity Prayer is one such prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” This prayer is used by Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups, which have made it popular and well-known. Another prayer that was recently made famous is found in the Old Testament: Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep from harm so that it might not bring me pain (1 Chronicles 4:10). Bruce Wilkinson published his book and made “The Prayer of Jabez” famous, printing it on everything from Bible covers to ball markers for golf. Yet, the most famous prayer is what we commonly refer to as ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ which is found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, our passage for this morning. No other prayer has been memorized or quoted or recited more than this prayer from Jesus.
Some people tell us that the Church does not serve enough. They want us to be more involved in community activities: more helping the poor, more meeting needs, more service. They fear that we spend too much time in the Church learning and not enough time outside the four walls serving. Yet, others say just the opposite. They claim that the Church is not learning enough. We might be reaching out to the hurting and the needy but we do not know what we believe. We might spend time sharing a cup of cold water, but if asked, we could not give a defense of our faith in Jesus. Some say ‘too much learning’ and others say ‘too much serving.’ So then, which group is correct? Should we spend more time serving or learning?
In the next few weeks and months we have several evangelistic opportunities for you. Over the next three Sunday nights we will be having our regular Church in the Park services at Roberta Rowe Park. There will be folks there each night who need to hear about what Jesus did for them at the cross. You can be involved in sharing with them and encouraging them by coming out each week. All of this will serve as a kick-off to our Evangelistic Bible studies which we will have during the months of June, July, and August. I am encouraging each of us to invite friends and neighbors and co-workers to these studies. And if some of those folk come, then I encourage you to intentionally invest in them over the summer. Have conversations with them about what is being taught and encourage them in following Christ.
I don’t always follow Jesus like I should. That is my confession for this morning. There are times in my life when I am simply not following faithfully. In particular, I don’t really like the idea of suffering. Sometimes I do everything I can to avoid it, even if it means not obeying Christ. I struggle with pride and lack of recognition. I have a hard time accepting other followers of Christ who don’t believe exactly like I do. I get angry when people reject me, especially when I think I am right (which is most of the time, another symptom of my pride). I don’t always like how much it costs to follow after Jesus. In short, I just don’t always follow Him like I should. How about you? Do you ever struggle in these areas?
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