Introduction: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our texts for this week’s sermon are the first two readings, from Acts 20 and from Rev. 7 – which will be considered in broader overview. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- I’ve always understood work to be work – and also that work is in many respects unpleasant. I suppose this should be identified as “laziness” – and I suspect that most of us have this streak in us, even though most of us have learned the discipline of overcoming our aversion to work.
- In fact, many of us are now so busy with all our “work,” that we have little time or energy for the more important things in life – often our family time suffers, and our involvement in the life of God’s people, Christ’s dear people, the church.
- We’re getting close to the time when we have to begin thinking about planting our gardens – along with a bunch of other yard work. Now, the thing about work is this – if I do the work of planting my garden, then I will likely have fresh and delicious vegetables to enjoy later this summer. However, I don’t really like tilling the garden, and bending down to plant all the seeds, and then hoeing out the weeds in the hot summer sun. But if I don’t do the work, then neither will I have the fruit – the delicious vegetables, and neither will the people in my family be able to enjoy these vegetables.
- In our texts for this morning, we see the same principle – that the relationship of work and fruits within the kingdom of God, the church, is the same. If the work gets done there will be fruit; if the work is not done, then there will be no fruit. So we must all give this serious consideration – if we consider the fruit of the church [faith, eternal life and salvation, and an abundance of good things in our lives] something that is worth having, and worth working for.
- All of this is nothing new for Christians, for as we see in our text from the book of Acts:
I. The Work Of The Kingdom Is Joyous, But Also Tough
A. The Apostle Paul Was Persecuted Greatly
Text: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”
B. The Apostle Paul Also Warned That Fierce Wolves Would Invade The Church
Text: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.”
C. Still, The Holy Spirit Continues To Commission, Appoint, And Empower His Workers, Especially Also His Pastors
Text: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.”
Statement: Most of us like to think of the church as a peaceful place, a place of refuge and comfort and ease. Many of us think of the church as a place where we are served – where we “pay” our offerings, and that ends our obligation. When hard work comes up, or challenges, or when the “fierce wolves” begin growling and baring their teeth, we figure that we’ve already done our share, and didn’t sign up for any of this really hard work.
The same is true when it comes to serving in office within the congregation, exercising leadership in Church Council and Voter’s assemblies, teaching Sunday School, and dealing with those who “speak twisted things” and try to “draw away disciples” to follow them and join their cause – often AGAINST those whom the Holy Spirit has made “overseers” in the church.
Application: Now, I don’t get to choose what work goes into the growing of my garden – and we don’t get to choose what work goes into the growing of our congregation, the “church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.” But if I want fruit from my garden I must do the work – and if we want “fruit” for the kingdom of God, fruit for our congregation, WE must do the work, each and every one of us. That is just the nature of the kingdom of God – and churches, congregations, can be lost; they can just dry up and blow away, sometimes because of the apathy [and dare I say “laziness”] of the people in the congregation. And yes, they can also be lost because of the laziness and the malfeasance of the “overseer” – especially if he refuses to combat the “fierce wolves.”
Transition: In the case of my garden, it is the “fruit” that motivates and compels me to do the work. The same is the case when it comes to the church of God which He obtained with His own blood. So let us consider carefully that:
II. The Fruit Of Our Work For The Kingdom Is Glorious
A. The Fruit Of Our Work For The Kingdom Is The Glorious Celebration Of God’s People – All Believers In Christ, Who Praise And Glorify God – In God’s Glorious Heaven
Text: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ . . . Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.”
B. All Of This Blessedness And Joy And Praise Of God Is Based In The Blood Of Jesus Christ – The Salvation He Accomplished For Us; And This Is The Ministry, The Work Of The Church, Of All Believers
Text: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
C. The Fruit Of Our Work Is The Perfect And Eternal Joy And Blessedness Of Innumerable Multitudes Of Dear People Who Have Come To Faith In Jesus
Text: “He Who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Statement: Is this enough fruit, good enough fruit – this good and eternal blessedness of so many people – to move us to engage in the work of the church of God, His congregation? Will this move us to endure trials, privation, labor, persecution, to fight against the wolves in the church, to oppose and drive out those who seek to promote “twisted things” and pull people away from Christ, to support and join with the “overseers” whom the Holy Spirit has placed in the church to care for the church of God? I hope and pray that it is enough for you!
Application: We don’t think of this often enough, and fully grasp the importance of “our work” within the church. But the truth is, if the work doesn’t get done, there will be no fruit – for congregations can become sterile, and inefficient, and weak, and dry up and die. Do not think that same cannot happen here, in your congregation – and in other congregations around us! It does depend upon us – for better or for worse, and the time will come when we will see the fruit of our WORK in the kingdom of God!
Conclusion: Work is not fun – though the fruit is good. What moves us to get out and do the work is the promise of the fruit. We all need to consider carefully what we are contributing to the WORK of God’s kingdom, of this congregation, that we have been called and privileged to do – not just our involvement in the things that we like and enjoy, the things that serve us, but the actual work – the burdens and privation of actually “caring” for God’s church.
The fruit is well worth the effort – and the wounds inflicted upon us along the way, and we will certainly see this when we too are standing before the glorious throne of God, in His heavenly temple! So let us be wise – and reconsider and recommit ourselves to the glorious ministry of Christ’s salvation within the church! For if we do the work we will see the fruit! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.