CMLC 2026-06-14 Sermon

Howdy Well glad to have you all joining us today,

and how did everybody joining us online as well?

Whenever I was younger I spent about eight months

working at a Christian bookstore it was over

off of 34th Street not too far from Ella over

near Waltrip High School and Yep, I'm a Houston

boy and You know when I was there. I was a general

assistant And most of my job, it involved helping

customers, stocking shelves, cleaning up, and

just making sure things ran smoothly. I was such

a newbie. But there were so many days when there

wouldn't be a big project to do. There was no

shipment coming in. There was nothing obvious

that needed to get done, no major tasks. But

you see, I grew up being told you don't wait

for someone to tell you something needs to get

done if you can see it for yourself. You just

do it. So, I would just start looking around,

and I would notice that there were books that

are out of order, or they need to be put back

where they belonged, or I'd start straightening

displays that someone had bumped into. There

might be a book that was tucked in that I'm seeing.

This is actually a really popular book. How's

anyone going to find it if it's tucked in down

there? And so I'd make everything more visible.

But you see, what would happen is I'd be leaning

over to do all these different things. And this

one guy thought that as I leaned over, I looked

like a water buffalo. And I'm like, am I a VeggieTales

cartoon or something? I have no idea. But he'd

say I was water buffaloing all around. So he

turned it into a verb before millennials got

a hold of it. So what we end up seeing, though,

is sometimes they would pause and be like, what's

Jason up to? And they'd say, why are you messing

around with all those things? And my answer was

always simple, because it needs to get done.

It helps the store, and the store will be better

if somebody takes care of it. Now, I was not

the manager. I wasn't in charge of merchandising,

and nobody had assigned it to me, but I realized

something important. Just because something wasn't

my primary responsibility, It didn't mean that

it was not important or that I couldn't somehow

be helpful. And years later, I was working for

Office Depot for a bit and I jumped into the

copy and print center. I loved Photoshop and

I wanted to make little business cards. But there

would be times where someone needed something

that had nothing to do with my department. So

I would need to learn all the other parts of

the store. And so as we're talking, as I'm getting

the order and chit -chatting a little bit, I'd

find out maybe they needed some office furniture,

or they needed some toner, or they needed some

more Post -It notes. We all need Post -It notes.

And I could have said, I'm sorry, that's not

my department. And then, yes, of course, I could

have called somebody over. But how much better

when I already knew what to share and where to

lead them? Because even though I worked in one

part, I wanted the whole store to succeed. And

the same thing is so true in our churches. How

often is it that we're saying just because it

may not be my task right now, isn't there a way

I can still be... You know, there was this one

guy that came around here and he was in our sanctuary

and he starts looking around at all the stuff,

all the audio video stuff that we've been putting

up the last few years and everything. He was

like, why don't you do this with the cameras?

And why don't you try that with the audio system?

And are you using the captions more effectively

and zooming in at the right frame for the pastor?

And so instead of saying, well, I'm just a pastor.

I don't know all these things. being like well

we haven't really been doing all of that I'm

not sure if we could I looked at him I said why

don't you give it a shot and so now he's helping

to run our AV ministry so that's how you get

suckered into stuff is when you complain then

that's when you know but It's also though one

of the best parts is because then you find someone

who actually is excited and interested And it's

a chance to use their passions and strengths

because you don't want to push people into stuff

They're not as passionate about right? but you

see he saw something that could be improved and

he was willing to make it happen and Life works

best of course when people care more about their

own corner of it But especially when they see

how they can be blessing all of those around

them from where they're at. See, families work

that way, where oftentimes we may say, well,

that's not my job, blah, blah, blah. Well, OK,

yes. But as a part of this family, aren't you

able to support and help one another? Hospitals,

how often it is that someone may be going around

and seeing a person in need, well, I'm not assigned

to them. But at this moment, can I truly help?

Stories whenever there was a gentleman who was

a janitor and he would be mopping up around the

hospital floor and someone went to him and said,

what do you do for a living? And he said, I save

lives. And they paused and they looked around,

but realizing every time he mopped the floor,

he realized he was getting rid of the germs that

might cause an infection. Every time he straightened.

a picture frame. He might realize that someone

woke up and needed to feel that they were at

home, so they'd recover. Or every time somebody

needed a shoulder to cry on, he might be the

only person who could be there for them in their

times of depression. And to be honest, communities

need that. People who see their work beyond just

their one spot. And churches, too. You see, we

need a church. of all sorts of types of people,

with each one having strengths to build up the

kingdom of God, because the harvest is plentiful,

but the workers are few. We don't need all those

workers to be exactly the same. You see, in our

gospel reading, Jesus looks out at the crowds,

and Matthew tells us that he sees people that

are harassed and helpless, like sheep without

a shepherd. They need someone. But what does

Jesus do? Does Jesus say, Yeah, the world's pretty

terrible. Well, hopefully heaven will come back

soon. Does he just look and say, you know, just

believe in me and then go back to life and someday

I'll come in and fix it all? No. He teaches.

He proclaims the kingdom. He heals diseases.

He has compassion and heals the afflictions of

people right in front of him. He sees the suffering.

He sees the pain. Does He stop and say, I'm the

Messiah. I'm here to save everybody and their

sins. I don't have time for you and your issues.

No! And more than that, He finds the disciples

to go and to do the same. And when we hear Matthew

10, we get so caught up sometimes in things being

miracles. Oh, wasn't that amazing what they did

back then? Oh, those apostles, they could heal

the sick, they could cleanse the lepers, they

could raise the dead and cast out the demons.

And yes, yes, the miracles matter. They were

showing the coming of the kingdom of God and

that God was saying, this is my son, follow him,

of course. But notice the larger picture. Every

one of those actions is aimed at restoring what

was broken in the world. See, not every day is

one of obvious miracles. You're not always going

to see something, and frankly, you're not going

to see any magic tricks from me today. But you

see, the miraculous things of God happen in the

every day. Teaching that restores the truth.

Proclaiming the kingdom to restore hope. Healing

that restores bodies. Cleansing lepers was about

restoring community. How many of us can restore

people who were rejected back into a world that

needs Jesus? Casting out demons was about restoring

freedom to those who did not know Christ. And

raising the dead, we do that every time we proclaim

Christ's name to those dead in their sins. The

actions may feel different, but the mission of

restoration is the same. Jesus restoring people,

communities, creation itself through His people,

His disciples, His church. And then He invites

the disciples as they're participating in that

work, not to say you can do everything, not to

say you're going to be able to meet everyone,

but to say wherever you are, that is where you

can restore the kingdom. Do we really think that

all those disciples were all the same? That they

all were able to do things in exactly the same

way? Do we really think that a tax collector

and a zealot were the same? Do we really think

that a person sitting under a fig tree is the

same as a guy out on his boat yelling at people?

But you see, I think that one of the traps that

we fall into is that we oftentimes divide our

life into two categories. What are the things

I have to do? And what are the things I want

to do? See, we oftentimes think of things like,

what is my work? And what are my hobbies? Okay?

What are my obligations? The things I have to

get done. I have my checklist. And then the things

where, oh, I'm going to hang out with my buddies

and we're going to go do something fun and life

is good. But you see, the Christian life introduces

a third question. What do I get to do because

Christ is restoring the world? How can God use

me right here and now? How is it that I am a

blessing? How is it that God's restoration is

showing up through me? Not because I am the same

as that person doing what God desires, but because

I am brought to this place. You see, the disciples,

they didn't go into every town having a list

of all the people they needed to go to help.

They didn't go over there walk through the gate

and say all right who's first all right? Okay,

we have Richard the leper. Let's go take care

of him all right We got that okay got that one

okay after that okay. We've got Bob Demon possessed

over here. Okay. We got okay. Let's go take care

of that. Okay. There's a grieving family Let's

make sure we take three hours set that aside.

I know but there will be cookies. It'll be good

Okay, so let's get through all this Of course

they had no idea who they were going to see,

what they were going to come across. They arrived.

They listened. They observed. They cared. And

when they asked, what is broken here? Then they

asked, how can Christ's restoration be present

here as well? See, and that's still the question

for Christians today. There are so many people

doing all sorts of different great things. We

see professors teaching the next generation,

and doctors healing diseases, surgeons with injuries,

and therapists with recovery. We see teachers

shaping minds, and engineers solving problems,

hopefully not creating extra ones, but you know.

We see people who are in the military protecting

those in the world around them. We see parents

raising children, chaplains caring for souls.

But also in the midst of it, volunteers helping

their neighbors for no other reason than just

because they can. Not one single person can do

everything. You might be thinking, oh, I wish

I were as great as that physician. Oh, I wish

I were cool like that engineer. Oh, man, if only

I were as strong as someone in our military.

But you see, a healthy hospital is not built

by everybody being a surgeon. A healthy community

is not everybody joining the HOA or everyone

somehow being a mayor. Church is not built just

on a pastor. This is so true for all these things

in our lives. But that's the thing is that God

uses all sorts of things to strengthen our faith.

It may be a retreat that we went on one weekend,

a mission trip we joined one week, a youth event

that we didn't have coming, a service project.

Maybe we went over there and put together a wheelchair

ramp, or maybe we got together and decided someone's

going to sit down with people in trauma. and

be their Stephen minister. The things that may

have changed your life may not be the same thing

that changed someone else's. And that's okay

because Christ is working through all these gifts.

And many people have many opportunities. And

even so in our churches. Because one of the most

heartbreaking parts is whenever I see even churches

that are supposed to be brothers and sisters

together, looking and saying, I don't like the

way you do that. I can't believe what type of

music you had. I can't believe that you used

that type of sermon instead of this one. And

heaven forbid, we have a band instead of an organ.

But you see, this is also where things start

to get uncomfortable. Because sometimes, sometimes

we're just being honest about our limitations.

I have only so much ability to do so many things

and I'm just acknowledging that this is just

me and these are my strengths and these are my

flaws. But sometimes we're using our limitations

as excuses. Those are not the same thing. Reality

may be saying I cannot do everything, but an

excuse says therefore I don't need to care. Reality

says I cannot help every person but an excuse

says I don't see their needs as my concern. Reality

may say I cannot solve this problem but an excuse

is saying therefore nobody should be trying.

Jesus tells the disciples not to go to the Gentiles

during this particular mission and it is so easy

to misunderstand what He means. As if somehow

the Gentiles weren't supposed to be having the

message. As if somehow the Gentiles had some

other type of salvation coming along. This was

not a permanent boundary on their hearts. Remember,

the mission of Jesus was just a few years. We're

talking about something that happened for a few

weeks. For a few weeks, there was supposed to

be a specific focus. This was not intended to

shut down ministry to the rest of the world.

This was a time when Jesus needed the Jewish

community to know that He was here as the Messiah.

He needed them to be the focus. He needed them

to be a foundation for all of the rest of the

world to know what was fulfilled. See, that specific

restriction was temporary, but the vision was

global. That assignment may have been limited,

but the mission was not. The Gospel was always

headed to the nations. Start here, but don't

stay here. And sometimes we have a habit of doing

the opposite. We look at temporary limitations,

and we turn them into permanent excuses. We say,

that's not my ministry. That's not my project.

That's not my interest. And maybe those aren't

my people. But before long, we're no longer saying,

I can't do that at this time. Instead, we're

saying that shouldn't be done at all. Or maybe

somebody else could do it. I don't want it affecting

me, though. I don't want space for that. I don't

want resources for that. I don't want my plans

interrupted. But you see, Christ's Kingdom is

bigger than just our preferences, bigger than

our projects, bigger than our comfort zones.

or anything we may understand. Isn't it possible,

though, that at moments like that, this is not

about somehow saying something is wrong. This

is not necessarily about saying that ministry

is the wrong ministry, or even stopping to say,

I am therefore not meant to be part of it. Isn't

it possible that those are the moments when we

feel stretched? The times when we struggle? Not

because we question God's work, but because those

are the moments when God is changing us. Romans

speaks to this because Paul is not primarily

just trying to say a bunch of stuff that we need

to do. He'd been talking about God doing things

in our lives that even though it was difficult,

it's not about questioning what God's work is

in our lives. See, suffering that you may be

going through? That produces endurance. Endurance

that you receive, it produces character. And

character produces hope. And no, this is not

just a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. God is not

finished. The Christian life is not just Jesus

saved me good, let's move on with life. The Christian

life is, Jesus saved me and now let's see how

He transforms me each and every day. The struggle,

it's not comfortable, but it's also good. The

struggles, sometimes it's not something that

we know how to solve. And sometimes, there's

some level of correction that we're supposed

to have. Maybe we thought someone else was supposed

to be corrected and it was actually us. Maybe

we're discovering though that we were wrong.

And that's not such a bad word. Maybe we meet

people we don't understand. Ministries we don't

appreciate or discover a kingdom that's bigger

than anything we even thought about. You see,

moments like that, that is not an interruption

to what God is doing in our life. That is the

discipleship. The struggles, the frustrations,

the times when we realized something was wrong,

that is the discipleship. It was never outside

of it. See, the opposite of faith is not always

unbelief. Sometimes it's when we assume we already

knew everything that God had in mind. And perhaps,

this is most especially seen between the generations.

Because sometimes the older Christians are looking

at the younger Christians and wondering why they

care so much about you things that like video

likes and card games and and and dance moves

that somehow are a little less You know coordinated

Yeah, I can't do it any faster than that. Don't

even give me a try But the younger Christians

they look at the older ones and wonder Why do

you care so much about building things and helping

your church and learning about? God in ways that

maybe I don't get yet because sometimes both

sides can be frustrated Both sides can be convinced

that they know exactly what is obvious But the

kingdom of God has always been bigger than just

any one generation I Attended the the LCMS youth

gathering back in in 2010 I think some of the

kids went maybe a few years ago, too. Yeah, and

The thing is, I had never been to one before

because I didn't grow up Lutheran. Don't kick

me out. I know. But you see, I heard people talking

about these youth gatherings and I didn't understand

what such a big deal was. But even so, I went

anyway. And I was surrounded by thousands of

young Christians gathered to worship and to learn,

to pray, to laugh, to play games, to serve, to

grow. Was every part of that experience for me?

No. I was a chaperone. But the point was seeing

what God was doing in their lives. To see young

people strengthened in their faith, discovering

that they're not alone in this world, to see

their lives changed. And you realize something

important. Just because something was not primarily

for me, it didn't mean that it wasn't important.

And even so, even just leaving some room for

it, I realized it was actually a blessing for

me as well. The same is true for so many things

that we hear that the church might do that maybe

we don't quite understand. Times whenever there

are retreats that we weren't expecting, mission

trips we weren't planning on, service projects

that we didn't know about, or Bible studies that

we hadn't joined. So many ministries that maybe

someone may be saying why would anyone want to

do that? But a better question might be what

is God doing there? Because restoring a broken

world requires more than one gift more than one

type of person Not everyone has the same gifting

and not everyone is the same part of the body

The body of Christ is not a bunch of feet the

body of Christ is not a bunch of eyes The body

of Christ is not a bunch of gall bladders, which

would be a problem. But you see, every part is

still important, and every part needs to be encouraged.

Because if the mouth did not eat the food needed

by every organ, where would it be? If the eyes

did not see where the feet were going, how would

they know where to lead? And this brings us back

to what Christ is showing us through Paul. When

we were still sinners, when we were still weak,

when we were still enemies, what did God do?

Christ died for us. See, Christ didn't wait for

us to have our act together or to know how to

do every single thing or to understand all of

ministry. Christ came first. Christ loved first.

Christ died first. See, if God could love us

though when we were His enemies, then perhaps

we might realize He is still loving us and others

as His children. Maybe we could be a little bit

slower to dismiss the opportunities that we don't

yet understand. Maybe we could be slower to assume

that we know how God needs to be working in each

and every person's lives. Maybe we might allow

Him to show us the possibilities. Because if

God is willing to die for us as sinners, then

maybe He's also leading us even in directions

we never understood. Because God has not finished

teaching us. He's not finished correcting us.

He's not finished stretching us. You are not

done having to say the phrase, I was wrong. I

know I'm not. Because there are times whenever

God has to ask us to care for the people that

we overlooked Or the times when we're supposed

to encourage the ministries we never understood

Or the times whenever we may say yes my limitations

are real But I don't use that as an excuse Because

Christ is still doing his restoration of the

world Not just at the times when we feel we have

it together But even though we are still weak,

and we are still sinful, and we still catch ourselves

getting in the way of what God is trying to do.

But if Christ has not given up on us, then it

means He is also still using us to do His work.

Because the mission is bigger than just one ministry

or one type of people. And that's how we find

more workers for the harvest. by being open to

seeing what God may be doing through those around

us. So maybe we pause and say, I don't quite

know what that ministry or that idea is about,

but maybe I take the time to get to know them

and see how I can be a blessing. And maybe you

go up to the pastor and you say, I'm wondering

how we can bless this ministry. And yes, I will

probably say, good. Are you ready to jump in?

But wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to realize

what we get to do for the kingdom of God. In

his name, amen.