Employed by God

Hebrews 1:1-12New International Version (NIV)

God’s Final Word: His Son

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

The Son Superior to Angels

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”?

6 And again, when God brings his firstborninto the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

7 In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”

8 But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

10 He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
12 You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”

Earlier this week I read a quote that said “Do not hire an employee and try to motivate them.  Hire motivated people and try to inspire them.”  I thought this quote to be pretty powerful because it made me look at how I approach the way I preach.  I feel like I was trying to be a motivational speaker of Matt Foley proportions “I LIVE IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!” instead of trying to inspire you.  And just as I remember Mr. Foley falling through the dining room table, I kind of felt that was how my motivational speaking was going.  I thought you all need motivated.  I was always under the impression that I had to motivate you and that would, in turn, stir within your spirit a want, a need and a desire to act in such a way that would bring glory to God.  I thought I could motivate you into action.  I have come to believe that I have been approaching it all wrong.  I do not need to motivate you because you have already done that.  You are here.  You have already done the most difficult part.  You have already come through those doors so that means that in some sense you are motivated.  I once had a professor tell me that those who come to church have in some way already been stirred by the Spirit because they found the motivation to get to church.  To some, getting to church seems like an easy task but for the rest of us it can be more difficult than we would like to admit.  But not matter what, you are here.  You are motivated by some factor.  It may be God’s Spirit.  It may be by demand of a family member.  Whatever the reason, you are here.  Now it is up to me to inspire you.

This was the task that has been in front of me since I have been thinking about this sermon.  How do I inspire this group of people?  What can I say or do that will inspire them to grow in their faith?  This got me thinking about why we do what we do.  I started thinking about the farmers, about the teachers, about the coaches, the nurses, the preachers, the everyday person who works their tail off.  Then, I had an epiphany and it came to me, we farm, teach, coach, help, preach, and work to...... get rich.  Right?  We do it for the money.  Farmers, teachers, coaches, nurses, preachers and laborers work because we make sooooo much money doing it.  Of course I am being sarcastic here but we farm because it is what we know.  It is what we enjoy.  We teach for the smiles on the kids faces.  We teach for the possibility of one breakthrough in a child that the world has forgotten.  We coach not to mold 5-star athletes.  We coach to mold the future generations.  We take care of others because we have a heart to do so.  We are there when no one else wants to be.  We are there in the loss and we are there in the celebration of rehabilitation.  We preach because God has given us a passion to do so.  We work hard because our work means something.  I believe our faith helps give meaning to our work.  I believe that faith helps us understand our place in a world that seems so confusing and fast moving.  We are far from perfect.  We fail often.  And yet God still shows up.       

I chose this scripture for a reason.  I did not pick the traditional scripture of the birth story because I wanted us to hear something different tonight.  There was one verse in particular that I feel represents the Christmas spirit even though it is not in the traditional birth story.  Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. And after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”  The child in which we celebrate tonight is the radiance of God’s glory.  He is the exact representation of God’s being.  Since these two things are truth: an undeniable fact of our faith we have found our inspiration.  We have found where we are given our meaning, no matter our vocation.  Christ is the exact representation of God’s being.  Christ is the exact representation of everything that God is.  Paul’s letter to the Romans makes it even more clear: 8:11 -- And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His spirit who lives in you.  Why would our mortal bodies need life if for no other reason than they need a meaning? A reason?  Faith gives our life perspective.  In other words, faith helps give us direction and meaning.  Some will argue you can do this without faith.  I would politely argue the opposite.  God’s spirit gives us meaning.  It gives our mortal bodies an opportunity to live on through eternity.  Look at the potential number of people we have possibility of effecting in the course of our lives. That is where we find the inspiration of tonight, the inspiration for all our lives. That potential is what we celebrate. As she stared into that manger, Mary had an inkling of what her son was capable of. She stared at him with the world laid before Him.  And to this day, God continues to stare at us with that same kind of potential laid before us. 

In closing, I still struggled to imagine how I could possibly inspire.  I am incredibly lucky.  I grew up in a family that loved me unconditionally.  I went to college.  I have three awesome kids with the most amazing woman on the planet.  My life has been easy.  Nothing about that seems inspiring.  Then it came me.  That way of thinking is really kind of selfish.  There I was, worried about how I can be inspiring. It is not me, it is not what I say that inspires others.  God is the one who stirs us to action.  Many people are inspiring and their example can help spread God’s word but even then that inspiration will fade unless we seek to be inspired by God.  This journey called life takes many twists and turns. Each journey is unique, they even vary in difficulty for reasons that are beyond our understanding.  But the one thing that I am forever grateful for is that I get to take my journey with all of you.  I may not be inspiring but I worship a God that is.  And I get to worship Him with with each of you, with my family.  That is inspiration enough for me.  Paul says that God made the universe through Jesus.  That means you and I were made through Jesus.  That means the homeless soldier, the pregnant teenager, the refugee, the neighbor next door was made through Jesus.  Some will choose to turn they back on God.  Some will decide to hurt others in His name.  I will choose to honor Him and do my best to show others that God also loves them because a baby in a manger has inspired me to do so.

Communion: When I look at the life of Christ, Jesus didn’t motivate the disciples.  He inspired them.  He showed them a way of life and then gave them to tools to live it.  He demonstrated love, grace, forgiveness and he was stern when the time called for it.  Some people believe that a life filled and lived with love, grace, mercy and forgiveness is life lived a pushover.  Not the case.  Jesus was not a pushover.  He died in one of the most painful ways possible.  He most likely knew the course of his life and followed through with it anyway.  He carried the sin of us all even though he had none.  This does not sound like a pushover.  This sounds like a man, the exact representation of God, that was willing to bear the weight of the world on his soldiers.  And the best part?  The best part is that he was born of a humble birth.  The season of Advent is the celebration of Christ’s presence on this earth and tonight is the culmination of that celebration.  However, in every act of kindness, every act of love, every act of understanding, every act of grace and forgiveness is a radiance of God’s glory.  You are all invited to come forward to partake in the bread and the cup.