Only 10 Words

Only 10 words!

What a difference 10 words can make.

This past weekend the leadership of our church spent a weekend away praying and working through the purpose of our church. Why are we here? What are we here to do? What priorities should determine how we use the resources God has given us? After much discussion we affirmed our purpose is this...

"Helping more people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ."

That purpose should direct all that we do as a church. Essentially we should eliminate anything we do that does not help us accomplish our purpose.

It is sadly interesting that far too often we get sidetracked and actually do things that keep us from accomplishing our purpose. And how we talk to and about others has a lot to do with this. I was struck by this when reading Jeremiah 18

¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹ Listen to me, LORD;
hear what my accusers are saying!
²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you
and spoke in their behalf
to turn your wrath away from them.

- Jeremiah 18:18-20

We get wrapped up in our own lives, forgetting that God has called us to influence others toward Jesus Christ. Just like "the two brothers" we forget that we are in the presence of Jesus Christ and he has an amazing mission for us. Instead we jockey for the positions of power and personal benefit.

¹⁷ Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, ¹⁸ “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” 

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

²² “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

²⁴ When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”