Reciprocate

Message Transcription

Indeed. Thanks be to God. Well, good morning church. I am happy to be with you this morning. And I'm not Carl. He and I talked about the lesson. In fact, he he sent me a text and he said, would you mind doing that? I said, no, not not at all, but I'm not sure that I could be appropriately dressed for it necessarily, because I don't have Crocs. And he said, well, that's okay. You can wear them just never to family picture day. So we we wish the best for Carl and we give thanks that he is and his family are such godly people that they have gone to be with those who are like family to commemorate the passing of of a friend of theirs. We're going to look this morning at a few verses from Colossians and another few verses from Luke. Join me in prayer as we begin. Spirit of God. Thank you for being among us, and I pray. That you would move. Through this place, that you would seek out those hearts that need your comfort and provide it, those hearts that need your conviction and provided those hearts. That need your provision. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you have called us to yourself, and we thank you that we stand in a very long line of believers. We thank you for this scripture that we have this morning, and we pray that you would bring to our minds and to our hearts that which is needful for us this morning.

We give you thanks. Amen. So this was to be the third of a series that Paul is preaching, or that that Carl was preaching on Thanksgiving. And the first the first lesson was on receiving. He's using passages out of Colossians two to bring the lesson to us. And so the first was in terms of thanksgiving and being thankful, recognize what we receive. And then the second point was to remember. And by being people who remember, that keeps us from being ungrateful. And then as good preachers do, he kept the R and went to the third point, starting with R, and it is reciprocate, which is the title that Carl gave this lesson, and he said, so what do you want to do? Do you, do you want to keep that title or you're free to do whatever you want and I said, no, let's keep that title and let's keep the scripture. Who knows what will happen between whenever we discussed it and today. And so reciprocate is is the name of the lesson. And let's talk about reciprocation for just a moment. Whenever we're thankful in our culture, we want to recognize what others have done for us, the blessings that we've been given. And there is a sense in which we've got an obligation to reciprocate. And for many of us, the way we do that and the way we teach that, whenever we teach it to our children, in some of the youngest classes that we do, we teach it at home.

And the most basic lesson that we have there is to say, to tell people, thank you. Whenever you receive something, at least, the least that we can do is to say thank you. And we actually go to a passage which it's not going to be on the screen, but it's it's a short little passage in Luke that I want to take us to for a moment, and then we'll come back and look at Colossians. In Luke chapter 17, there's an excellent illustration of what reciprocate means. This is Luke 17, starting in verse 11. Now, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee, and he was going into a village. Ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, and they called out in a loud voice, Jesus, master, have pity on us. And when he saw them, he said, go, show yourselves to the priests. Notice there isn't anything about being healed. It is simply go show yourselves to the priests. Interesting. And as they went, as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus's feet and he thanked him.

And he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, rise and go. Your trust has made you whole. Now, often we will use that passage to say, look, here is one who turned. He recognized his healing, and he turned and he came and said, thank you. And so that's what we should do. Except that whenever we read this, that way, we're really misunderstanding something. You see, in Jesus's world, to say thank you actually was quite rude. How could that be? It was quite rude because in Jesus's world, in the in the give and take of daily life in a village, there was this very strong sense that if you do someone for something, there is a kind of obligation for them to. Here you go, Carl. Reciprocate. There is this kind of it's the oil, if you will, that that keeps the gears of daily life working. And so if someone does something for you, you find a way at times to do for them and then you do for others. And it's this give and take, this oscillation, this giving reciprocating, reciprocating, reciprocating. This is the way society was meant to function. And there was a real simple way in the ancient world where you would throw sand in those gears.

And that is when someone said, oh, thank you. You see if you said thank you in almost every circumstance. If you said thank you, what you were doing is you were saying, I'm stopping the pendulum. I've taken what you've given. And we may have been doing this dance for who knows how long, but I've taken it. And if I say thank you, that is stopping the pendulum. It was considered rude. And so it's interesting then, that in this passage, if we know that if we can read this passage in Luke, when with first century eyes, Mediterranean eyes, then we would be scandalized by what happened. That is, one of them came back praising God in a loud voice. It doesn't even say he got to the priests. He recognized it. He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him. And if we're reading this through first century eyes, we would be aghast. And then we would go, well it figures. He was a Samaritan. By nature, he's an ingrate or. But wait, he's not. You see what Jesus does there? This Samaritan sort of throws a kink into the whole thing because Jesus receives this. Thanks, I said. In most instances, reciprocating was a bad thing. There's only one instance, one situation where it is not a bad thing to do, and that is when the person recognizes that what they have received from someone is so utterly overwhelming that there is no way in heaven or on earth that they could ever do anything that could even approximate what they have received.

It is if it is if if what they received has thrown the pendulum so far in the other direction, it got stuck. And if we can read it through those eyes, we. We see this. We see this Samaritan. Samaritans weren't supposed to be theologically aware. Remember? But he is. And he's the only one who comes and says thank you to him. Only does Jesus say. Get up and go. Your faith has made you whole. So what do we do with something like that as church? How do we how do we put that into practice? Well, it just so happens that there's this passage at the end of Colossians. Colossians chapter four. How do we how do we say thank you? How do we fulfill our obligations? And so Colossians chapter four, starting in verse two, going through verse six, is this short little piece. Paul has written a magnificent little letter to the Colossians. And this this is almost a conclusion after you get past chapter six, it's a bunch of greetings and kind of mopping up. But look at the final words that Paul puts together in this epistle, other than he says toward the very end. And when you finish reading this, have this letter read to the churches in Laodicea. But here's what he says as the wrap up.

Verse two. Devote yourselves to prayer. Be alert. Giving thanks. Right off the bat. What we learn from this is that whenever Paul wraps everything up and says, church, here is how you begin to fulfill your obligation. It is devote yourselves to prayer. You'd think good works, perhaps. But for Paul, even good works have a beginning place. And this language of devote yourselves to prayer. Really the word devote is is it's not strong enough. He's telling the whole congregation, be intentionally dedicated. This is your task. Now, I have been blessed over the last, I don't know, easily going on more than a year to know that in our service we particularly set aside time for praying with one another. This is honestly the first congregation that I've been a part of, where that is central to what we do together in worship is setting aside that time to interact with one another in prayer. And in this Broadway, we are doing what Paul has suggested, but I want to encourage us to do more. I want to encourage us to take these words and to recognize that they don't simply apply to what we do here, which it does, but to what we do on our way here, to what we do on our way home, to what we do in our homes, in our workplace, everywhere. We ought to be known. And Paul is calling the Colossians to be known as people devoted to prayer.

And then it says this to do it. Be watchful. And thankful. The watchfulness in this is to pay attention to what's going on around you. Many of us will say, I don't know what to pray for. Really. Look around. Look around. It's easy. It's easy to see what's going on around you. It's easy to have something to pray about. Let me just demonstrate. It's real simple as you're going along. If you see a co-worker. If you see someone in your family, if you're at the grocery store checking out or passing someone in a store aisle, if you see them in your notice, it seems to me they're down. It seems to me they they need to know God's care and comfort. Then all you have to do is simply say, Lord, would you pay attention to them? They need your blessing. And you may. If you're paying attention, you may be nudged. You may be tapped on the shoulder, so to speak. And and since you need to just go up to them and say this, I've done it before. There are some I've rarely had anyone if I've ever walked up to them and said. I'm just. It seems to me maybe that. That you're looking like you might need a blessing. Do you mind if I pray for you? Just very quickly. And of course, we're not used to doing that because that gets in other people's space, right? And we're not used to putting ourselves out like that.

But what if you did? What if you did? What if when you notice someone in need just like that, and you know that you can't really do anything for them, you can't necessarily provide that need, but you can say a good word for them. You can say something clear, a blessing for them. You can do that. And you simply say, would you mind if I pray for you now? I've never had, except once or twice anyone refuse me. But then, in respect of their time, I keep it very short. Lord. Here is this person who needs your care. Would you just minister to their heart, please? In Jesus name. Thank you. Thank you for letting me do that for you. I hope you have a blessed day. You see, it's real simple. Be watchful, be vigilant. And then he says, do this with thanksgiving. Give thanks. That's what our world needs a lot of is Thanksgiving. A lot of sense that we live before a God who is generous beyond our imagination, who is quite willing to provide for us. And when others don't give thanks, we can. Even on their behalf. Paul then continues, and he says so. Want you to pray for us too. This is Paul and the other believers that he is working with.

He says, I want you to pray for us, too. And he gives two things that he says, I want you really to be praying about for us. What I want you to pray that God would open a door for our message. And two, I want you to pray that we would have the opportunity to proclaim the mystery of Christ. Just pray for that for us, would you? You see, this is how they, the Colossian church, could reciprocate the blessing that Paul had given them. He's asking for their prayers. Now, what would we do with that, though? How do we make that connection for ourselves? The connection is simple. We asked one another to pray for us, that we would have our eyes open, and that we would be given an opportunity, that we would see those opportunities to speak a good word for Jesus. To speak a good word, we can ask one another to pray that for us, and we can pray that for them. What do you think would happen if, as a believing church, if all of us made it a regular habit to seek and to pray for, to seek prayers of others, asking, would you ask God on my behalf to open doors of ministry? Would you ask God for that? For me? You may say to yourself, well, I'm not sure I want to ask. I'm not sure I want to pray that because I don't know what God might do.

Well, then the next thing you do is you pray for that. But you also pray that God would provide what you need. You see, it's not about us. It's not about us bringing stuff. We don't have to be the ones to supply it. God supplies it. But by saying something openly. We, like the Samaritan, are giving praise. We're putting it in God's hands. And then he continues, he says, pray that I may proclaim it as clearly as I should. This is Paul the Apostle. He is so smart. He is so eloquent. And yet he asked these Colossian believers, many of them are neophytes in the faith. They're new, they're babies. And he's saying, would you pray on my behalf to God that I wouldn't stick my foot in my mouth? Would you pray to God that I wouldn't mess the message up? Would you pray to God that I may speak clearly? If Paul the Apostle can pray that prayer. If he can ask for that from the Colossians. Oh my goodness, why? Why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we? And we pray that for ourselves. In fact, I know most of us have actually prayed that prayer. You don't have to show your hands. But here's what I'm going to bet. I'm going to bet that there have been times where you have been in the presence of someone who is so overwhelmed with need, with grief, with difficulty, that you have immediately gone to their side.

And as you're going, you are praying, maybe even out loud. Lord, I don't have I don't have any idea of what is needed here, but I just. Would you just give me the words to say? Would you help me say? Would you help me be a channel of blessing to them? I'm positive that most of us in this room have done that very same thing, haven't you? Haven't you asked God for that? Now, here's the question. Did he? Did God give you what you needed in the moment? And if he did, did you say thank you, Lord? Thank you. You see, we've got to do that part too. We don't just take. We give thanks. Thank you Lord. Because when we give thanks, you know what happens. When we give thanks for God answering our prayers. God recognizes that we're growing in faith and we're putting ourselves at his disposal, and God is much more likely to tap us on the shoulder again and say, hey, you did a great job there. I need you over here. Could you do the same thing over here? And before you know it, our faith is increased. Our sense of working with the Kingdom of God is greater, and our confidence against all the oppressive forces of darkness gets strong with God's power. All because we give.

Thanks.

Then he says this be wise. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. You see, for Paul and for this little church, they lived in a hostile environment. And Paul knows that they've got to watch themselves. And so he says to them, be watchful in prayer. Be wise toward outsiders. Watch yourself. Seek wisdom from one another. Now, how do we get this? How do we get this? I'm just going to make a suggestion that I really haven't seen done all that much. And I think I know the reason. Here's my suggestion. And it is this. When we meet together in our small groups, maybe even in our class when we're having conversations with one another. I'm going to ask you to do something that's going to be very uncomfortable because we don't like to talk about ourselves. We think somehow it's wrong. I'm simply going to ask you to. To ask those that you are in close association with. Ask them how they might have handled a situation that you just found yourself in. This is how we build wisdom up among ourselves. We ask, how would you have done that? Now, admittedly, this can go off the rails because there may be some who go who simply want to give every example of things that they've done because they want the spiritual checkmarks. But in reality. In reality, if we can just set that aside, even even if it's from a poor motive, if we will share our wisdom with one another, as is our obligation. Then we will grow.

And there is that reciprocity again, that give the take the learn, the teach the learn the teach the teach the learn the help the learn the listen. This is who we are. And then he ends with these words let your conversation always be full of grace. Seasoned with salt so that you may know how to respond to everyone. Be full of grace. This can be hard. Can't it? Because there are times when we're interacting with people and our mind is thinking, but we don't often say it out loud. Sometimes we do. Our mind is rather judgmental, or at least not helpful. It's not charitable. And we think to ourselves, what a dolt. They should have known better. Didn't they listen to Frydenberg's sermon? But when those times come, just let the spirit tap you on the shoulder and tell you. Shh. Be graceful. Be gracious in your speech. Be gracious. Let it be seasoned with salt. A metaphor for preservation. For keeping the relationship alive. It's something equivalent, I think, here to our own phrase, that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar. It's just being aware so that we can know how to respond to everyone. You see, as church, we live in a world. We live in a world that doesn't understand us even more and more. It's not understanding us. And more and more we are pulled into its orbit. And some of us lament that some of us don't recognize it. But instead of lamenting, I think Paul tells us how to approach it.

Church. Church. The way we show Thanksgiving, the way we give praise and thanks to God. Is simply to ask for God to give us the words to our prayers and the interactions and. Do what comes. Just engage. Jesus our Lord said this to his disciples. He says, I'm going to send you out in the midst of wolves. And they're going to be some people who will not understand you and they will persecute you. And he says, but don't fret. Don't worry. The Spirit of God will provide what you need in the moment to say. Do you believe that church I do? I believe that because I've seen it happen too many times. And if you don't yet believe it, let me just encourage you. Here's how you can come to believe it. Just start doing it and you will see. Will you make mistakes? Of course. That doesn't mean you stop if you make a mistake. You just say, Lord, there it is. Sorry, I guess I missed that one. Help me do differently. And the Lord is faithful. For some of us in the room and I'm sure for many outside, this week is going to be both. A blessing. And a difficulty. Families in America come together during Thanksgiving and sometimes during the preparations. There's a great deal of anxiety that can get developed from it because it's like, okay, we know we're supposed to be together, but how long? How long are we supposed to be together? Can, can, can I just can I, can I say, you know, lunch is going to be at 2:00 and thank you for leaving at four.

Or there are those who come together as family and, you know, you may even have them in your own family. You know, the ones that you really don't want to sit next to each other or across from each other because their political leanings are, let's say, in opposite directions. Thanksgiving can be a hard time. But you know what? We don't have to worry about that. Because really, all we need to do is remember what Paul says. Be diligent. In prayer. Keep your eyes open and be thankful. And let God take care of it. But we must. We must respond. So as you begin this week, and as we give thanks as a nation for so many things. It is my prayer. That you will remember who you are. That you will like that Samaritan in Luke. That you, in fact, will circle back and say thanks. And in doing so, you can certainly expect to hear the words of Jesus. Rise and go. Your loyalty has made you whole. And so, Lord. We give this week that we would hold for ourselves to you. Open our eyes to see what's needful. Open our mouths to give blessing. And Lord, I pray especially give us the strength and open our hearts to simply be those who speak you clearly. And Lord, we've received so much. We give you thanks. We would have more, please. To Jesus. Amen.