Sustainability

Will spoke in chapel a few weeks ago and I want to share his sermon here on my blog. Many students commented on it and I want to remember how relevant his message was for life in language school. Will sent me his message and I want to post it exactly has he wrote it. Now you can see what his notes look like in its rough form! I hope it speaks to you as well.



Sustainability
Chapel June 2012


INTRO: I think all the guys who were with me during the first tri language class are already gone, so they won't have to hear this story again.*And to the others who have heard it, bear with me. It's a story of one of my first language assignments, given by Lisette. We had to go to a meat market, a pharmacy, or wherever we drew from the hat and simply ask the question, "cuanto cuesta?" *That's it. That's was the extent of it. *"How much?...for whatever" My task was a bakery. I had not been introduced to Maurie's bakery yet, so I headed up to Mus Mani. Being the little overachiever that I thought I could be, which lasted a couple of weeks, I took off to Mus Mani with the thought that I wouldn't only ask "cuanto cuesta" but I was
also going to explain to the people working there what I was doing. *It was all in my head. "Hi, I'm a language school student and I need to practice. Can I ask you how much these things are? *Remember, I'm a couple of weeks into this thing. I can't say those sentences, but I'm confident that day that I can. So my confidence is up and I walk beside the security guard, giving him the head not and "buenas." And as I walk into Mus Mani and see those girls behind the counter, I freeze. *They say something to me, probably something to see if they could help me.


I ignore them and quickly turn to the pastries. *Seeing that they have the names and the prices... *Knowing that all I have to say is "cuanto cuesta"... Well in my thickest Southern accent, all that comes out is something like "contar quister." I see the utter confusion on their face, and I break out into a horrible sweat. *And I don't know what to do. So I panic. I grab a tray and some tongs and begin to throw all sorts of things on it. *I go to the counter and start pointing and trying to merely say my two words. They seem more and more confused. Finally, I get out of my mouth something that's terribly wrong in many ways...again, two weeks into school. "Yo necesito pegar Ud." *A horrible look comes to this girls face. Again, with more power - because now there's a line behind me. "Yo necesito pegar Ud." At that time, I didn't know there was a difference between pegar and pagar. As the girl backs away and the line grows, I take a 10 mil out of my pocket, throw it on the counter, pick up my bread and take off...never to return to that Mus Mani again.


As I slinked home, I remember wondering how this, whatever this was, was going to be a sustainable endeavor for me and my family. I had that thought again one night after ESL class at AMCA. *It was during rainy season - in October, and the rain let up. *So after class I ran up to the Chinese restaurant and got some food to go. *And as I walked back to my house, the heavens opened like never before. *And everything about me and my food was soaked. And I'll never forget thinking what some of you might have thought too... "What am I doing here?" "How is this going to last." I think about what must have gone on through the minds of our good friends the Martens, at least once, while they've had to take 100 trips to the hospital for various things. *Surely they've wondered how life in foreign waters can be sustained. Or how about when we can see on our children's faces the struggles that they are dealing with, all because we chose to leave the familiar and move to the foreign. I know that just crushes the mothers, especially. Or just dealing with this new language learning. I was talking to one of you the other day and you were about to pop. You identified how you just needed a break. *And man have I felt that. *And along with that thought, I have gotten to the place where I've thought, "If I can't handle the stress of a new language, how in the world am I going to make it after this little bubble is popped." Maybe some of you have felt a little bit of this. And the question goes...


FCF: How is life sustainable as a missionary when everything seems so out of control? *How do I get through it? I don't know about you, but I have implemented of few things to help me and my family out. *Every Tuesday night we go to Denny's for some familiar food. *We listen to a lot music - in English. *I bought a VPN so that I could watch HULU. I don't know. From a shared bottle of wine with your wife to VIP movies...maybe an occasional trip to the beach...all the way to posting our favorite missionary quotes on our FB page or convincing ourselves that our perspective country is the most impoverished and most needy, we've probably all have employed ways to sustain our lives here. *But as one of my friends said, these aren't means of sustaining life - whether on the mission field or even back in the States. *These are nothing more than coping mechanism. We are typically pretty good at finding ways to cope with the realities around us. *But as we consider life - and in our cases - life in Costa Rica, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Spain, or wherever... How is it sustained - for the long haul? BI: The answer is always found in Christ and His gospel. *But the gospel extends further than our justification, although that's certainly part of it - as we'll see.


TEXT: This morning I want us to look at John 15:1-5 and consider the idea of our position in Christ. *As you're getting there, know that I was thinking through this when I saw another missionary the other day in his car up by the gate. *On the dashboard he had a book about Hudson Taylor. *Being missionaries, I'll assume you know of Hudson Taylor. But what some don't know of Hudson Taylor is the horrible life that he had during the first part of mission life in China. *To summarize...a lot of his children died, he got sick, he was almost killed in a riot, and his wife died. *In perspective, he didn't have a VIP theater to visit. This man...this great missionary became depressed to the point of considering suicide. *He wrote to his sister, "I hated myself, I hated my sin, and yet gain no strength against it." That's a bad place to be...a serious place to be in life. But that is when the Holy Spirit illuminated John 15 to him. *And he began to understand his position. *It was his newfound Spiritual Secret, as he called it. *Our text for this morning became alive in his life. *And my hope is that it becomes alive in ours because I'm convinced that coping mechanisms will last only so long. *But who we are and where we stand in Christ is the eternal sustaining power of the Gospel.


John 15:1-5
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."


 The sustaining power of our position of abiding in Christ is the focus today. *And there are several things to consider before we leave and head back to class. Taylor also wrote after dwelling on his spiritual secret... "The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus." I believe that the sort of rest that he is speaking of can only be found in our position. And considering position - one where we have union and communion... MP1: There must be a consideration of our union with Christ from it's beginnings. *We certainly can go to Ephesians 1:3 and contemplate to glorious truth that we were chosen in Christ even before the foundations of the world. But for the purposes of what we're talking about this morning, let's consider the point when we were made part of the vine.


Paul writes in Romans 6 a lot about death...death to sin. *Romans 6 is the foundational passage about our justification...our death to sin. ILL: Since we're all language students...learners of different conjugations and tenses, etc., you might appreciate this. *When Paul used the word "died" - referring to our death to sin... *He used a certain tense called the aorist tense. This tense is kind of like the past perfect in Spanish. *It's a one-time past action. *It's something that happened - period. So when writing about death to sin, he wasn't suggesting that this is a process over a period of time. It is something that happened...period. APP: And because of our newfound and certain position of death to sin, we are found by the grace of God to not be in the position of slavery - which we once were. *We no longer have the position of slaves to sin... *But as Paul continues, we are slaves to righteousness. We can abide in the position of being righteous before God. I think one of my favorite doctrines was one of John Owen's favorites - he called it the Great Exchange. *Some know it as double-imputation. It's simply this.


Whereas a lot of times we view God's grace...our justification...when we gave our sins to Christ. *Too many times we leave it at that. *Have we not all been to the youth camps where the culmination is the nailing our sins to a cross. As beautiful as that is, the work of grace doesn't stop there. *The great exhange says yes, our sins were given to Christ. *But also that he exchanged His righteousness for our sins. It's written in II Corinthians 5 - the famous versus about being a new creation. *Well Paul can actually call us new creations because of verse 21. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." In that one time past action of death, our position changed from that of slaves to sin...death... *To the righteousness of God. *Son and daughters...heirs...a royal priesthood who can confidently go before the very throne of God. And abide. MP2: When we consider that positioning that God's grace provided, our entire walk will be changed. *So our position was changed so that our walk could be changed.


ILL: It's the point of the book of Ephesians. *The first 3 chapters deal with our position...our union with Christ. *In him we were chosen... *In him we were forgiven... *In him we were adopted... *In him we have obtained an inheritance.. *We have been saved by grace and brought into a family...so that we may be filled with the fullness of God. Within the first three chapters, Paul wants us to understand this truth. *He wants us to understand so that we may walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. *So that we can imitate God and love others, be husbands and wives and parents that reflect the gospel... *So that we can equip others for works in the ministry, etc. We have been given a new position of abiding in Christ so that we can actually bear fruit for God - wherever we are... So as we are considering some of the realities of life in a fallen world - some of the realities that we are walking around in on a daily basis, there's a greater reality to recognize. *A reality that allows our actual walk to be changed. *A walk that is reflective of our position.


John, in our original text says that apart from abiding in Christ, that we can do nothing. Nothing would certainly imply a righteous walk. *It's so true, isn't it? *Apart from Him, we are laboring in vain. *We're going to class for nothing. *Our clothes are molding for naught. *We have left our home countries and we're crazy for doing so. Apart from Him...nothing is possible. But in Him...consider the possibilities for sustainable life. Our walk can be different. MP3: And because our position and walk are changed, our entire perspective can be changed. *From looking to the here and now which is so easy to do...we can look to glory. It's easy to leave the States really excited...ready to tackle the world for Christ. *And then have our focus shifted to the realities all around us - only to remain. The good news is that our positioning in Christ allows us to look forward to a day when mission work won't be needed. *A day when physical and spiritual poverty will no longer exist. A day when every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. CLOSE: Brothers and sisters, let's leave here this morning with a renewed perspective.


For those who are honest with themselves, life away from our normal can at times be difficult. At times, extremely difficult. *And whereas we all do a pretty good job at plastering our smiles on while we're within these walls, we also know the pain behind closed doors. It's the reality that no amount of chapel attendance can soothe. *A reality that no amount of old Office reruns can mask. *That no amount of trips to Denny's can make go away. But a deep understanding of who we are in Christ and the position that we have been given...a position to simply abide... *By that grace, and to His glory, we can have a sustainable life where our walk and perspective is pleasing to Him.