Talk: Vanity...or why Mother Teresa is better than a mirror...

Purpose: Worship is Vanity without Mission

INTRO:

Has anyone heard of the Sermon on the Mount?

Jesus teaches on a wide variety of life issues and then ends with this:

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23 (Matthew 25:31-40) NIV

That’s sort of hard to hear... Jesus telling someone to just get away like that.

We must hear the hard stuff, though, because it helps us learn...

Learning hurts sometimes, right? Examples of hard to learn stuff (sports, math, term paper, growing up, music practice)

Okay, I have a statement that will help us see what Jesus meant here.

BODY:

Say: Worship is Vanity without Mission

Let’s break this statement down and define the 3 largest terms by hearing from some of the most prominent/important people in scripture.

First,

¨ Worship

§ Before you read from what Paul says, talk about who he was

§ Paul says: Romans 12:1 (ESV)—living sacrifices

§ So worship is in the everyday stuff, it’s what we do for God, serving God, praising God, anything we would think to do for God, etc.

Okay, so Worship, all the stuff we do for God, is Vanity without Mission, so now let’s define the next word...Vanity

¨ Vanity

§ Talk about who Solomon was

§ Solomon says: Ecclesiastes 1:2 (ESV)

§ Name specifically what he calls vanity in chapters 1 & 2, all these things generally make you look better if you do them

§ Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NLT)

§ So Vanity is Meaningless, anything you do to build yourself up.

Okay, so Worship--all the stuff we do for God--is Vanity--meaningless, just building yourself up—without Mission.

So, let’s read the scripture we started out with again, this is the Message version of it:

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23 MSG

Well, if Worship is Vanity without Mission, and we don’t want our worship to be vanity, then, of course, we want t know what our Mission is...

¨ Mission

§ Solomon says: Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NLT or NIV), just fear God and keep his commandments

§ Jesus says right after the scripture we’ve been reading: Matthew 7:24-27, we must hear and obey the teaching of Jesus, not just hear them

§ Jesus did this, the whole duty of man, as Solomon put it. He feared God and kept his commandments. He was always about His father’s will. He said, “let this cup pass from me,” but then still he said, “not my will but your will.” Philippians 2 describes his devotion and how he gave all of himself up to be about the will of His father and didn’t even count equality with God something to be grasped... He wasn’t building himself up, but building the will of His Father, God.

§ John 6:38-40, He came not to do His will, but to obey the will of His father, described there.

§ So our Mission is the same as Jesus’ Mission, to obey the will of God

Worship—all the stuff we do for God—is Vanity—meaningless, only building ourselves up—without Mission—obeying the will of God, fearing God and keeping His commandments.

Worship is Vanity without Mission

This begs a few questions about Mission:

First question: So, then, what must we do? How much must we do? How far must we go? When do we rest?

Watch Video: Mother Teresa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4X2OQa8_bg&feature=related

First Answer: We must see Jesus.

Matthew 25:31-46 (summarize this story vividly...when did we see you naked and clothe you...?) The reason Jesus says we gave him drink, food, clothing and friendship is because His love for people is so great, that if we kick someone in the shin, he feels it. If we give someone a blanket, he feels it. His love is so great for us. So, we must see Jesus in each other. Try starting this practice first in your home.  Try seeing your mom or dad, brother or sister, grandma or grandpa as if they are Jesus, because He feels for them.  Then, try your teacher, a cashier, a waiter or waitress, a person standing at a busstop, etc...

Second Question:

What if I mess up? Though it may not be obvious...What if I am the one in need, the one hurting, the one who needs to be taught, the one who is poor? What is my worship then? What is my mission then?

Remember this: He loves us... When we are hungry, alone, thirsty, then We are the ones he says “you did it for me” about.

Second Answer: We must seek Jesus.

Why? Because he says things like this: Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

In our Mission, we must be seeing and seeking Jesus.

Worship is Vanity without Mission

CLOSING:

Why does Jesus want our worship to be more than vanity? Why does he want our Mission to be about the will of God?

This is what He says about that in John chapter 15:

 John 15:9-11. So that His, the risen Jesus, joy may be in us and our joy may be complete.

And remember what the will of Jesus, following the will of our Father is: John 6:38-40.

Vanity Slides