"Identifying Marks of the Church" (Matthew 25:31-36)

 

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u02XtY8WYN0

Sunday, December 27, 2020

 

            Back in the 1990’s Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago, and Saddleback Community Church in southern California were both a big deal.  Both churches drew 1000’s to their weekend services.  Each became known for being exemplars of a “seeker-sensitive” model as opposed to the stuffy, unwelcoming traditional church.  These churches had cool music.  You could dress however you wanted when you attended.  You didn’t have to put on your “Sunday best” or act in a certain way.  These churches grew rapidly into megachurches because they had innovative, charismatic leaders, and they were known for doing church differently. 

            What is the church known for?

            The Crystal Cathedral, also in southern California, preceded the churches I mentioned as a mega church with a celebrity pastor.  The Crystal Cathedral had huge windows that opened so you could see in from the parking lot.  You’d tune your radio to the right station, you could hear everything, and you’d actually gone to church, seen it all, and heard it all without ever leaving your car.  Convenient!

            What is the church known for?

            A new church here in Chapel Hill, Jubilee Baptist, wants to help people locked in debt, get out of debt.  It’s as wonderful a name for a church as I have heard – Jubilee.  They are trying to live into the name, based on the Old Testament year of Jubilee in which debts were forgiven and everyone in the community could start over.  This church wants to be known for helping people find freedom in Christ.

            What is the church known for?

            Today there are a lot of mega churches, usually known for their celebrity pastors, The Summit in Durham, Elevation Church in Charlotte, Lakewood in Houston, with best-selling author/pastor Joel Osteen.  The Manhattan branch of Hillsong United not had a high profile pastor, but a lot of famous people in the congregation every Sunday.  These oversized operations are known for their glitz, fame, and big productions.

            What is the church known for?  What should it be known for?

            Every congregation I’ve mentioned, however big and famous or small and unknown has its good qualities and its weaknesses.  I pray God will bless every one of these churches and I hope people attending worship services in in these varying faith communities meet Jesus. 

It doesn’t matter how many Instagram followers you have, or how many people come to watch you in concert, or how much you get paid to play basketball.  You need Jesus!  Everyone needs Jesus.  Whether you come to know Jesus through the oversized ministry of a glitzy megachurch or the simple, understated witness of a small country chapel, either way, it’s Jesus.  Everyone needs Jesus.

            We are Hillside Church.  We have existed as a congregation for about 118 years, and have operated under our present name for 1 year.  On this final Sunday of 2020, I invite you, the people of Hillside, to contemplate a question specifically with our church in mind.  What are we, as a church, known for?  What should we be known for?

             “When the Son of Man comes in his glory …” says Jesus.  He’s talking about his return, the Second Coming.  At that time, he will divide everyone up, and we want to be on his right side.  To those at his right he says, “Come, you that are blessed …, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v.34).

            There’s another option.  To those on his left he says, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v.41).  Jesus presents this as two options: kingdom prepared as an inheritance or fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  I want the kingdom.  I want to avoid the fire. 

            How do those who inherit the kingdom get there, and how can we be among them?  Why are these fortunate ones gifted entry into God’s kingdom?  Jesus tells them, “I was hungry, and you gave me food, thirsty, and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

            Note a couple of things.  First, the blessed one taken into God’s kingdom did not know they were serving Jesus when they cared for those Jesus calls “least of these.”  When they volunteered for a hospital visitation ministry, they just thought they were going to pray with people in the hospital and encourage them.   It wasn’t O, I’m doing this for Jesus. It was just compassion.  When they donated to the clothing drive, contributed money to Children’s hope chest, performed individual acts of compassion to help hurting people they met, it was just that: a heart of love helping someone who needed the help. 

            I point that out because this passage is not an explanation for how to get to heaven when you die.  In this passage, Jesus explains the characteristics of those who are heaven-bound.  They had no idea that their acts of compassion in this life had any effect on the way they would spend eternity.  They discovered that after they heard the judgment.

            That’s the second important observation.  When Jesus tells this parable, he’s just days away from being arrested.  This is one of the final messages he’ll give.  He’s talking about something that is a done deal.  The sheep and the goats’ fates had been decided and their eternal fortunes were directly tied to how they cared for the most vulnerable and needy people in society.

            That would be a third observation to make.  Jesus identifies himself with the needy and the poor and the struggling.  When the blessed visited people in prison, it doesn’t people wrongly imprisoned.  They were compassionate God-worshipers who cared for prisoners; and those prisoners were guilty.  Jesus even identified himself with the guilty and said when we love them, we’re loving him. 

            The blessed did not understand their acts of compassion would impact their eternal fates, the decision was already made, and Jesus himself identified with the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned.

            Earlier I mentioned churches with famous pastors, churches with different approaches, and different churches here in Chapel Hill and around the country to demonstrate that different churches are known for different things.  I want the people of our church to inherit that kingdom God promised the blessed.  But that comes later, at the end.  Right now, the question facing us is what, in 2021, will Hillside Church be known for. 

            I pray that our members will be known as compassionate, welcoming people who share the love of Jesus with all who come our way.  I pray that around town, when you hear “Hillside,” people will say, “That’s a loving, welcoming church.”  It’s far more important that we be defined by love than that we be known for our creative innovations or rapid numeric growth.  We’d love to have more people in church, and I want us to be creative; however, the biggest aim is that we be known for how well we love as we point people to Jesus. 

            We show our compassion through our ministries.  We are developing a local ministry platform that includes 2 food pantry distributions a month, on-site blood drives every other month, a mobile dental bus in June, and our handyman ministry, once social distancing restrictions are lifted.  We will also resume our tutoring ministries once we’re past COVID-19, and our elders have approved contributing funds to another tutoring ministry here in town during the pandemic.  In all these works, we love hungry people, financially struggling people, and people who have specific needs.  Our motivation is love and compassion. 

Heaven will take care of itself later.  We are driven to bring God’s love to people right now.    We need our members to enthusiastically pray for these ministries and be a part of them.  The vaccine is here.  2021 is not going to be like 2020.  We’ll soon be able to re-enter life and when you do my fellow Hillside member, do it as a disciple of Jesus, determined to love the most unlikely of people with the zeal you’d show if you were loving Jesus himself.

            Our attitude is as important as our programming.  I can stand here every Sunday and do a run-down of our ministry programs and explain our vision for a platform of works of compassion.  This vision will come to life as our members embrace it and live it. 

Many already are!  The volunteer spirit and the generosity of our most committed members is a picture of Jesus.  As you re-engage with the church in the new year, take your cues from those already involved in works of compassion.  Ask God to give you a heart for what matters most to Him.  Decide how you will love Jesus in 2021 by loving people who need help. 

A new year lies before us.  We can put pandemics and contentious politics in the rearview mirror.  This is our time to look to Jesus and decide what our church will be known for.  The need is all around us, so we remember that where needy people are, Jesus is.  We welcome Him in and go out to him.  We do for the “least” because compassion, welcome, and love is who we are.”

                        AMEN

Living Church

 

The Living Church, 9-30-2020

             “Tell the older women to be reverent in behavior … so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, … to be good managers of their households. … Urge the younger men to be self-controlled.  Show yourself in all respects a model of good works” (Titus 2:3-6).  In this short New Testament letter, Paul instructs Titus how to lead the church in Crete.  Paul wants to see a church that is called by Christ, loyal to Christ, and functions in an organized, ordered way.  

            Is the church organized?  Does the church have direction, and a sense of mission?  We must be discerning in reading Titus!  We do not abide by 2:9, “tell slaves to be submissive to their masters,” because we have read Philemon.  We know Paul himself subverted the institution of slavery when he commanded Philemon to receive the runaway slave Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother (Philemon 1:15-16).  We know Paul’s sense that in the church of Jesus, no one is a slave (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11).  Thus, we take Titus 2:9 as a word set in first century Crete, but not applicable to us today.  The overarching spirit of Titus, though, most definitely speaks authoritatively to how we, as a 21^st church, must function if we are to be the body of Christ.

            We must be a living church.  In a living church, ministries happen.  People meet Jesus.  The good news is proclaimed by the pastor in sermons and by the members and worshipers in everyday life. 

            Are you a woman in the church?  Are you mentoring younger women, as Paul prescribes (Titus 2:4)?  It’s not as if Paul says, ‘go ahead and do this if it fits your calling and is in your comfort zone and is aligned with your gifting.’  This word from Paul is for all women in the church.  Are you mentoring a teenaged girl or a college-aged girl, or a young woman?  If not, why not?  Are you contributing your time, experience, and knowledge to the church’s children’s, youth, or young adult ministries?

            Men, there’s a word here for us too.  “Show yourself a model of good works,” Paul tells Titus (2:7).  Are you doing that?  If so how?  Would you respond, “Well, I am not a role model or mentor, because I don’t know how to do that”?  Fine.  What are you doing to learn how to do that?  Men, how are you pouring your faith and your life into boys, teenaged young men and college-aged young men? 

            We, and by “we” I mean the people of the church, have to want this.  We cannot say, “Oh that’s not a priority for me.”  The Bible doesn’t give any space for saying we don’t value active ministry.  God’s word doesn’t give the option of not passing our faith onto the next generation.  We have to value an active, difference-making approach to living our faith, and this includes discipling each other and especially our younger members.  We all have to be part of ministry.  In a living church, there is no sideline nor are there any wallflowers.  Everyone is dancing.  Everyone is in the game.  Every worshiper, member, and attendee are involved in some way. 

            The only exception might be newcomers, visitors, and seekers.  Part of being involved in ministry is recognizing who the newcomers are and gently inviting them to become involved.  We want those who come for the first time to be loved, to see Jesus, and then to get active in church life.

            Not knowing how to mentor or disciple is not a reason to avoid mentoring and discipling.  The follower of Jesus learns how. 

            The pandemic is not a reason to avoid being involved in ministry.  The church has survived plagues, wars, and severe persecution throughout its history.  In the Roman era, the church met in tombs – the catacombs.  The church, persecuted by the most powerful empire in the world, grew holding worship in mausoleums.  We can grow, even if we stay home to avoid getting sick or wear masks and hold our meetings under “social distancing” protocols.

            In an era of texting, countless forms of social media, and good old-fashioned phone calls, we have constant connection.  We just need to use it to spread the Gospel, encourage each other, and grow in relationships with fellow church members.

            If upon reading this, you want to become more involved in ministry, check in with Dina, or Pastor Rob.  Our college/young adult group has started back up, in-person.  So has our youth group.  We continue to do our food pantry and we continue to need volunteers.  We have a small group (via Zoom call) starting October 8.  You can be involved in any of the ministries.  Women, you can attend Dina’s Tuesday morning women’s Bible study, which is also now meeting in person. 

If you want to be involved in a one-on-one relationship of spiritual mentoring, we can help you do that.  Pastor Rob or Phil Partin can assist you. 

If you read this and don’t feel the need to be involved in ministry in any way, I urge you to read Titus 2, prayerfully and discerningly.  How does this word of God speak into your life?  What does it mean, in your life, to live an active faith?  What, in your sense of things, does an active, mission-directed church look like, and what’s your part in that? 

I know what I’m saying here is direct and challenging.  When we follow Jesus, we find that he’s direct, and he challenges us.  I don’t presume to be Jesus, but I think what I wrote here is something he wants all of us to think about.  Church should be comforting, but not too comfortable.  We need to be prompted and sometimes even prodded by the Holy Spirit.  Read Titus and the other passages referenced here.  Read, pray, and then get involved in living an active faith and helping Hillside be a living church.

God-Sized Prayer for the Community

The truth is I have repeatedly asked God to send more people to our church.  This year we have experienced more departures than the normal attrition our church cycles through.  In any given year, we see a dozen or more people move whether it is because of graduation or moving to a new town.  Or, people leave the church for other reasons.  As that happens, new people join us.  Families move to the area.  People already living here decide they want to give our church a try.  In over decade, we have not had significant numeric growth or decline – until this year. 

            This year, our new arrivals are not keeping pace with our departures.  As the lead pastor of the church, this has troubled me and I have prayed fervently for God to do something about it.  However, recently as I walked through the neighborhood near our church property, I experienced a paradigm-rattling thought.  I may have been praying the wrong prayer.

            Does God want people to attend HillSong?  Maybe.  But more than filling the seats in our building with bodies on Sunday mornings, God wants people turning to Him in faith.  God wants the hearts of people turned to him for salvation. 

            There’s a middle school a block from our church campus.  There are hundreds of homes within a one-mile radius of our location.  I walked across that campus praying for the kids who would be taking year-end testing.  I prayed for cafeteria workers, teachers’ classroom aides, the school nurse, the janitors, and the resource officer.  I prayed for office staff, the principal, and assistant principals.  And of course, I prayed for the teachers.  From the school, I walked up and down residential streets praying, asking God to send a wave of revival through this community. 

            Our church is not influencing or affecting this community in which God has placed us.  A few families are core members of our church family, but for the most part, the community is indifferent to the church.  I know.  I live in the community. I talk to my neighbors every day.  As I walked and pray, it hit like a thunderclap.  I need – we all need – to be praying for something much more important than increased attendance at our church.  We need to pray for a bigger impact in our community. 

            The second entry for “impact” in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary reads that this is a noun which means “the force or impression of one thing on another.”  What Gospel force is our church exerting in this community?  What Godly impression are we making?

          People in our town don’t know how much they need Jesus.  They don’t realize they are lost without him.  I know.  I live here.  One of the nicest men I know decide Sunday morning was the perfect time an amusement park.  He’s a great dad and I love it when my kids play at his house because I know they’re safe, they’re having fun, and they don’t spend the time staring at screens. 

I love my neighbor.  But, it never occurred to him that Sunday morning is a time for the church to gather and worship God.  It just isn’t in his mind that his children need to be formed in the image of Christ and part of that formation is the teaching that comes in Sunday School, in extended session, and in worship services.  I hope my friendship with him is a witness.  He knows who I am and what I do.  But whatever effect our friendship has, in our half a dozen years of acquaintance, his family has been to our church exactly 1 time.  And they’re not missing our church to worship elsewhere.  In his life, Sunday morning is time for taking kids places or for working out.  He is but one example of the people around us – our church’s mission field.

We not called to encourage people to be nice.  We are called to help people become disciples of Jesus.  One of the most important and maybe one of the most overlooked passages to inform our calling is Luke 19:41-44.  Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and knows he will soon be arrested and executed.  He knows this is coming, but he also knows he will have a week where he is able to teach in the temple’s outer court.  It is his last chance to give his vision for life in God’s kingdom before he goes to the cross.

As he approaches the city from the outlying village where he spends his nights, Luke writes he weeps. He weeps for Jerusalem.  His tears do not fall because he desperately wants to see better temple attendance for Sabbath day worship services.  He’s crying because he says of the people of the city, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!  Because now they are hidden from your eyes.  … You did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Jesus was God-in-the-flesh and too many people in the city could not see it and totally missed it.  This broke God’s heart.  We are nearly 2000 years removed from Jesus’ time in Jerusalem, from the crucifixion and resurrection.  Today, we live in the age of the church.  The Holy Spirit has come (Acts 2) to empower the church to draw people to Jesus.  We are the witnesses to what God has done and is doing – saving men and women from sin and from an eternity apart from Him.  Our testimony is meant to convince people to render a verdict: they are guilty and their only hope of rescue from judgment is Jesus. 

Would I love it if our church got bigger (had more people)?  Most definitely!  That’s why I have continuously asked God to send more people to us.  God responded to that prayer by challenging me to pray something much bigger and more important.  God wants the hearts of the people in this community.  We as a church need to pray that we would have a God-sized influence and a resurrection-persuasion.  We need to impact this community for Christ. 

That’s why I am urging you to make salvation prayer a crucial part of your daily prayer life (and if you don’t prayer daily, then start.  Now!).  Pray for the salvation of the people in our community who don’t know Jesus.  Pray for our church to be an effective witness.  Have your heart burn for people like many of my neighbors.  These are wonderful, upstanding folks, but without a sense of how much they need Jesus.  Pray that God will work through our church to help people find their way to Jesus.  If it means many end up attending our church, that’s great.  But that’s not the prayer.  The prayer is that people’s hearts would turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Let this burn in you.

Now Playing: The Story of the Church! (Ephesians 4:1-16)

Sunday, November 5, 2017

            As the movie begins, we hear the main character say, “Let me tell you about the time I almost died.”  The story is thrilling, but why?  Everything after “Let me tell you about the time,” is flashback.  When we see him hanging off the edge of the building with the bad guys shooting at him, we know he escapes.  We know he doesn’t fall.  We know he doesn’t die.  How? He’s the one telling the story.  Let me tell you about when I almost died.

            Today we step into a story - the story of the church as told in Ephesians.  This tale is not so death-defying as the hero escaping from some impossible scenario.  It’s not James Bond evading 10 gunman with bad intentions and falling into the arms of a woman.  It’s not Captain America and a handful of Avengers staring down hordes of aliens who threaten all life on earth.  This is not that kind of story.  This one is better.

            The story we find in Ephesians is better than the action film.  Even more, it is better than the stories on the evening news, stories of racial tension, terrorism, violence, and political strife.  This Ephesians story is better than the dream America holds before us where people are treated as commodities, consumers to be wooed by false impressions of beauty, success, and happiness.  The story in Ephesians is richer than the lies advertisers try to sell and Americans are too often too eager to buy.  The Ephesians story offers greater meaning, more permanent satisfaction than any nation’s ideals, and a better ending.

            The ending of the Ephesians story – a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit story – is that God wants to build up the body of Christ, which is the church.  The body is the gathering, the united sense of identity and shared life of all who follow Jesus into the Kingdom of God.  You, me, all of us together make up the body of Christ and God the Father, known through the Son, and at work in the world through the Spirit gives what we need to be His people, worshiping Him and helping others come to saving faith in Him.  God equips us in love so that we are united and are His people, His church.  That’s the story.

            Why is this good news?  And how do we get there?

            The beginning involves the Jewish rabbi, the carpenter’s son, the long-awaited Messiah, God-in-the-flesh; this Jesus, the Jesus, is crucified by Rome at Jerusalem’s insistence and each one of us is complicit because of our sin.  He gets tortured, killed, and buried, but after a few days, the tomb is discovered empty.  In the month following, his followers meet him and in these meetings discover he has been resurrected.

            His still bears nails holes in his hands from the crucifixion.  He can be touched and embraced.  He eats with the disciples.  Yet, when he so desires, he can pass through closed doors without opening them.  He can seemingly transport from one place to another in bodily form.  Finally, he ascends, stepping out of this realm and into a heavenly one.  A short time later, his Holy Spirit fills His followers, and the age of the church begins. 

            Within a few years, some Jews in Jerusalem become steadfast in their devotion to Jesus and to helping others come salvation in His name.  Other Jews in Jerusalem are equally determined to crush the Jesus movement.  One of these is a Pharisee named Saul.  The risen, ascended Christ returns in a blinding light to confront Saul on the road.  Saul, overwhelmed, repents of all the evils he has carried out against Jesus’ church.  He begins going by the name Paul and is commissioned an apostle. 

            Then he travels to, Antioch, around the Greek-speaking world, and finally he makes his way to Rome.  At every stop, Paul tells Jews and Gentiles alike about salvation in Jesus.  He is flogged by those opposed to his message.  People who come to believe are also roughed up and ostracized, precisely because they decide to follow Jesus.  Paul, finally, is imprisoned and tradition tells us he died while imprisoned for Christ. 

            Before death reached Paul, he started churches in numerous cities, and the letters he wrote back to those communities were saved and circulated so all the churches could have the word God had given Paul to give to the church.  A few generations later, those letters were compiled and in the 4^th century, the entire New Testament, including Paul’s letters, were collected into the volume we now have in the Bible.  Ephesians has been our entry point to this story for the past month. 

            This story of salvation from creation to Jesus to the church to Paul to HillSong in 2017, this news, is good because it shows that in Jesus Christ, we have relationship with God.  We have freedom from sin. We have love beyond explanation, joy that does not diminish, and joy that does not fail.

            Last week in focusing on Ephesians 3, we looked at what God does and noted that our primary act is prayer.  In Ephesians 4, we see what we do in addition to prayer.  “I … beg you,” the author says, “to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1).  We know we have been called to follow Jesus, to accept God’s invitation to be his sons and daughters, and to be his witnesses in a fallen, lost world.  The phrase “to lead a life,” in verse 1, means to be ‘in Christ’ in our walk through daily life.  Daily life is the arena in which our faith becomes real. 

            Following Jesus, as we care for our families, go to our jobs, shop in the marketplace, pay our taxes, and live in the cultural world of 21^st century America, this walk happens in a specific way.  Humility.  God is great and we are servants.  Gentleness.  People around us are lost, and we must be safe, welcoming, representatives of our Lord.  Patience.  Inside the church and out, we are confronted with the pain of the world because sin hurts.  In spite of it, we welcome others into our embrace.

Bearing with one another in love.  Jesus’ great commandment is that we love God and then go out of our way, inconvenience ourselves, in loving each other.  Making every effort to maintain unity of the Spirit.  This is not unity for unity’s sake, but rather the unity of people who have died and been raised again in Christ. 

Verses 2-3 list the way we go about living into the salvation God has given:

·         Humbly

·         Gently

·         Patiently

·         Bearing one another’s burdens in love

·         Maintaining unity in the Holy Spirit

Imagine the story of the church that receives Paul’s Ephesians urging!  In a distorted view of church, some select certain behaviors to be the standard by which we are measured.  In one church, only men can be ordained.  In another, all the deacons have to sign a document written in 1963 or 2000.  In yet another, the leaders must be alcohol-free.  If a deacon is caught a deacon with a beer, he’s banished to some sort of ecclesiastical purgatory for a while.  In another, certain sexual behaviors are the measure of whether or not someone is following Christ.

I readily acknowledge a Christian ethic that relates to who should and should not lead, to the appropriateness in relationships, and other matters.  The Word of God speaks to all these things.  But, what if we paid attention when Paul says, “I beg you to lead a life worthy?”  And what if in paying attention, we realize that in the church story God is writing, humility is the measure of the leader?  What if our loving critique comes down to, “Pastor, you haven’t been gentle?”  “Small group leader, you need to bear with those in your group – stand beside them; support them; help them through the crisis they’re experiencing!”  “Deacon, your actions are hurting our unity in the Spirit.”

These blunt words aren’t spoken to shame people.  Rather, the intent is to help the pastor grow in his discipleship by helping him learn to be gentler.  The idea is to help the small group leader deepen her commitment to Christ by helping her go the extra mile in caring for those in her group.  The aim is to help that deacon strengthen his own testimony by helping him know how to work for unity in the family.  In the Ephesians church story, gentleness, humility, and unity matter as much as the issues that take up so much of our time today. 

Our work is to lean in to this way of following Jesus.  God’s work is to shower us with grace.  Of course grace means our sins are forgiven and we have new life in Christ.  Grace is also the source of the gifts God gives.  The Greek word ‘grace’ and the word translated ‘gifts’ or ‘spiritual gifts’ come from the same root.  The only kind of gifting Paul writes about is spiritual gifting.  In 1 Corinthians 12 and in Romans 12, there are representative, not exhaustive, spiritual gift lists. 

Here in Ephesians 4, the grace given by God specifically refers to leadership.  Verse 11 names apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.  In our church family, we don’t have roles for apostles – but we know we are sent.  We don’t have prophets on the church staff – but there are times when people in the church are given a prophetic word from God and that word must be spoken.  We don’t have ‘evangelist’ as a formal position, but we know we are called to tell the good news of Jesus Christ.

We do have pastors and teachers.  All the gifts described in Ephesians 4, those we have in formal title and those we exercise by function serve the same purpose.  These gifts are given by God, to be used by leaders in the church to equip everyone in the church to do the work of ministry and build up the body of Christ.  Ephesians 4:12 shows why all the people in the church are ‘ministers.’  God gifts the leaders, and the leaders respond by humbly, gently training and encouraging the members of the church family.  The church family responds by committing to unity in the Holy Spirit, giving full-bodied support to the other members of the church family, and sharing the good news in the community.

It’s good news because it is a story of salvation, a story of second chances, a story of belonging, and a story that never ends.  In this story, God never gives up on you.

How do we get there?  By commitment and trust.  We commit to grow as disciples.  We trust God’s promise of forgiveness and grace when we fail to do our part.  And realizing our shortcomings, we try again.  And again.  And again.

Know this.  We’re not there yet.  In chapter 4, verse 14, it says “We must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every [crazy idea that comes along].”[i]  This was written because sometimes the people of the church allowed themselves to be deceived and fell prey to false teachings.  They were easily swayed by bad ideas. 

The next verse says, “by speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”  We build ourselves up in love, as the end of verse 16 says. 

I have seen churches fail to be gentle with members.  I have seen followers of Jesus ignore the Ephesians call to humility and unity.  I have seen it in the church and in myself.  God doesn’t give up on me or on his church.  This story is not yet complete.  In fact, we see the power of this story as we grow in Christlikeness. 

We see it when the grieving widow is comforted. 

We see it when the nervous young adult whose never traveled before signs up for the overseas mission trip, and then confesses all her fears, and then allows her church family to encourage her and the family does exactly that.

We see it when the small group, showing love and mercy, walks through the divorce with him, sitting with him in his brokenness. It’s a story that’s happening now, happening among us, happening in your life.  The title of the sermon is “Now playing!  The story of the church.”  Together, looking to Christ, and sharing his love with one another, we see this show as it unfolds and through the church, the world hears and sees the good news of life in Christ.

AMEN 

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[i] Here I substituted “crazy idea that comes along” because I think that’s clearer than the phrase “every wind of doctrine” which is what the NRSV says.

The Church Lives its Calling

Lead a life worthy of your calling … [a life marked by] humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; from Ephesians 4:1-3.

Our church has spent several weeks in Ephesians during the Sunday morning sermons.  We’re finally to chapter 4.  It encourages me to be able to say, from my vantage point as senior pastor, that I have seen our church family embody the life depicted in these opening verses of the 4^th chapter.

“A life worthy of your calling;” pastors and professional clergy are thought to be called by God like prophets of old.  But, I have seen lay members in our church family live out just as strongly this sense that God has given them purpose in their lives and they are as compelled as any pastor to live into that purpose.

“Marked by humility and gentleness;” our church family includes individuals who have accomplished much.  They are the leaders of their organizations, the groundbreaking researchers, and those with oversight in power positions in our community.  In our church family, these distinguished people are called by their first names, not “Dr. this,” or “Mr. that.”  We downplay titles because we are a family, brothers and sisters in Christ.  Yes, church is an institution and titles can be appropriate.  But the lasting image of church, exceeding the societal function, is the household of God.  When I am at home, it’s comfortable and I’m on a first name basis with my family.  In our church family, the one in the kitchen wearing an apron and washing dishes is a department head at the university.  The one hunched over spreading mulch on the workday is the head of her department at work.  This wasn’t done by design.  We don’t try to “humble people.”  They have embraced the call of Christ.  What’s happening in what I am describing is the result of people following God with humility and gentleness.

“Bearing with one another in love:” we’ve had conflict, like most churches do at some point.  Some have left our church family in unhappy departures.  We’re not perfect.  But the ones who are here do their best to overcome differences that arise in loving ways.  Many of members are not that crazy about everything I say, but they love me as much as they love each other.  They “bear with” me because they’re trying to follow the Spirit’s lead.  I’ve seen people in our church overcome differences and become true friends – disciples who help each other grow in faith.

This has sound like a brag-session; look how great our church is.  I did not intend that. I thought, as a supplement to the Ephesians sermon series, I’d zero on some details in Ephesians 4 where we might focus our energy.  But don’t pastors do too much of that sometimes?   We must be humbler and gentler.  We have to work on “bearing with one another in love.”  Yes, we must and we have to, but sometimes pastors overdo it with the “must’s” and the “have-to’s.”  As I sat down to write, I wanted to express how grateful I am for that ways I see our church already living into the vision Paul casts in Ephesians 4. 

October was “pastor appreciation month,” and the church showed great love to me.  I feel it.  November is the month of Thanksgiving.  I am very thankful that the HillSong Church family is a body of believers who believe that to be Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus.  And this church lives out that discipleship.  I am glad I get to be part of it.  

By Grace we have been Saved (Ephesians 2:5, 8)

            I have little tricks that I use when I am talking with people.  I use this in preaching too.  It’s not sinister or disingenuous, but it is intentional.  Whether in a one-on-one conversation, or in a sermon, I will say something to try to get you to like me, or at least trust me.  If I know I am about to give a message that will rile people up, raise someone’s hackles, maybe anger someone, then I at least want to gain credibility.

            I played high school football and rode the bench for a year in college.

            I was in the military, the National Guard.

            I am from the south; moved to Roanoke, VA in 1982.

            I am from the Midwest; lived in Michigan before moving to Roanoke at age 12 in 1982.

            I spent a summer working in a factory.

            I spent a summer working landscaping.

            I have traveled the world.

            I have a mixed-race family.

            I read Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn.

            None of that is much of a big deal to anyone really, but if I think it will help me gain credibility, I weave it into conversations or into my presentation.  I want you to hear my accomplishments and my experiences.  I want you to think it is worth your time and your mental energy to listen to what I have to say.  I am trying to relate to you.  I hope you’ll find me relatable.  And at a deeper level, I hope you’ll find me worthy. 

           

            I am not unique in this.  People want to be liked.  People want to be respected.  You do.  I do.  People want to be welcomed and to belong.  You may use different methods to achieve this than I do, but I suspect you do it.  And achieve is the word, especially in the American cultural landscape.    

The spirit of the American way of thinking, our cultural ethos, highly values the self-made person, the rugged individualist.  Stand on your own two feet.  If you’re going through tough times, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. 

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller lay dying, knowing he had given his life in combat to save Private Ryan.  His dying words to Ryan are “You earn it.”  In other words, you better darn well live a life that was worth the sacrifice that was made for you. 

Can we a take a second to acknowledge the absurdity of this?  How can John Ryan live well enough to account for the entire squad of army rangers who died trying to save him?  What measurement determines whether a life is well-lived or not? 

In my own life, how foolish is it for me to recite my life resume in hopes that I’ll be worthy of your attention, your respect, and maybe even your friendship.  Such futility.  I say I played football, the other guy was named to the all-state team.  I come with my National Guard experience, the other guy was regular army special forces.  I causally mention that I read War and Peace, the other guy read it and actually understood it.  There is always someone smarter, someone taller, someone with a better physique, someone with a better education, someone who did cooler things in life, someone who achieved more, or has more than you and me.  Always. 

Trying to earn respect and affection and friendship is futile.  It is a complete waste of time.  Furthermore, the harder we work to prove ourselves worthy and good, the further we move away from the foundation of the Gospel.  I do not condemn all competition.  My sons are both playing sports.  I want them to try to be the best, the fastest runner in Cross Country, the hardest hitter in football.  Maybe you work in a competitive industry and part of your success is being a leader in attracting new customers.    

That’s fine.  Be competitive.  Try your hardest in whatever you’re doing in work and in life.  But, as followers of Jesus, we have to listen to what the word of God says about our value.  Upon hearing the Gospel story, we have to adjust how we value other people in light of how Jesus values us. 

We’re going to spend the next couple of months thinking about our church family as a household. Beeson Divinity School professor Sydney Park writes, “The house of God is not a physical construction, but a living organism composed of people who are now members through Christ’s sacrifice.”[i]

When you think of us as “members,” imagine your fingers and your toes and how connected these digits are to your body.  When we imagine church as the household of God, we see ourselves connected to each other in that way.  Cut off my finger, and something is missing.  Cut me off from you and you from me, each one of us from each other, and we feel it.  That’s the kind of intimacy and interconnectedness we want in our church. 

For me to be the pastor of this kind of tight-knit family, the shepherd of this community of self-giving love, I have to move away from constantly trying to win you over by reciting my life resume.  I can share about football and the army and school and Michigan and Virginia.  But my sharing should not be an effort to impress.  It should come out of my willingness to share my story.  You give me the gift of showing interest in my story.  And you give me another gift: you share your story with me.  We share our lives with each other. 

We move away from attempts to be found worthy, and instead reach for grace and generosity.  It is essential that we are honest about our weaknesses, wounds, and vulnerability.  We all have scars.  I don’t need to bleed all over the stage every Sunday, but it would be dishonest for me to stand up and pretend I am perfect and have it all together.  For us to be Christ to each other in this household of God, we have to recognize each other as wounded healers.[ii]

When we do that then we’ll be ready to embrace what I am quite certain is God’s call on this church.  This church is called to be the household of God.  That means whenever we gather, we answer this question: what must we do to help people feel at home here, in the household of God?  What changes must we make to help feel like they are at home here?

We’re not dealing with those questions today.  Today, we face the futile search for worthiness.  Today we openly admit that we aren’t going to impress each other, that we can’t, and we shouldn’t try.  Instead, we love each other exactly as we are.  No matter how messy or broken, we give each other the love of Christ.  Change comes for each person because when one meets Christ, change is inevitable.  He makes us new creations, but that is at God’s initiative.  Our starting point is love.

In Ephesians 1 and 2, note what is said about Jesus. 

He is Lord (1:3) – master of everything, master everywhere.  He’s not a lord, he’s The Lord.

He is Christ (1:3), the anointed one of God, sent to save God’s people from sin, death and destruction.  When Jesus came, we discovered the wonder that he saved Israel, but not only Israel.  All who come in repentance to the Jewish Messiah are saved.

He is eternal.  Verse 4 – “[The Father God] chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.  “In Christ” is the key phrase.  God was at work in Christ before the foundation of the world.  Our lives only make sense when we understand them in Christ.

He is the means of our adoption as children of God, he is God’s means of grace, he is God’s beloved, and he is the vessel of redemption (1:4-7). 

Jesus is flush with grace; verse 7 God lavished grace upon us.  That means the best things in our lives, the realities that give us life are gifts we did not earn, but rather blessings God gives freely and extravagantly. 

He is the revealer of mysteries, the reconciler of all things, and the enabler of life (1:7, 9; 2:5).

Ephesians 2:6 says we are raised up with him.  Jesus rose from the grave, defeated death, and takes us with him.  Death is next after this life, but it’s not last.  Each one of us who is in Christ has resurrection ahead, after death. 

When Ephesians says in chapter 2, verse 9, that we are made for good works, that also happens as we are in Christ.

All the good we experience comes about because of who God is and we know who God is because we know God in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the embodiment of God’s gift, giving us salvation, that which we do not deserve and have not earned.  In Christ, our sins are washed away, we are made new, given joy now, a meaningful life now, and promised eternal life with God after resurrection.

This is summed up in chapter 2 verse 5 – “by grace we have been saved.”  And then so we don’t miss the point, it is repeated in verse 8.  We are saved by grace through faith.  It is not our own doing.  It is the gift of God, not a result of our efforts.  Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are what he has made us.”

This is a core Christian confession, but we rarely stop to recognize just how hard this confession is to accept.  We Americans are individualistic in our thinking and merit-driven when we talk about value.  You assess another person’s worth based your evaluation of their worthiness.  I do it.  It’s an American thing and it is the antithesis, the opposite of how it works in the Kingdom of God.

For us to be the household of God, we must pray for release from this kind of individualistic, merit-based thinking.  We need to spend a long time asking God to free us from this and to guide us into grace.  We need to see the world and to see one another through the eyes of grace. 

Our default is to revert to assessing worthiness.  Do you deserve for me to give you respect?  Have I earned the right for you to give me your time and your attention?  That’s where we go automatically. 

The change comes when we are able to live in the grace God’s lavished on us and then that grace spills out from us onto those around us.  And we will begin existing as the true household of God when collectively we are characterized by grace.  When people come among us and they know they are welcomed and loved and they meet God here, then that will be the fruit, the evidence that we are a graced community. 

The reflection questions for this morning are “what do you have that you’ve earned,” and “what do you have that has come as a gift?”  Look over the attributes of Jesus mentioned in Ephesians 1 & 2.  Especially remember 2:5 & 8.  “By grace we have been saved.”  Imagine how life looks when it flows out of the gift of new life God has given.  We don’t see and interact with the world based on an achievement mindset.  Rather, we wake up every day basking the radiant light of the joy-filled grace God has poured into us.  And from there we step into the world.  When we do it that way, what does life look like?

AMEN

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[i] M. Sydney Park (2012) in Honoring the Generations, M.Sydney Park, Soong-Chan Rah, and Al Tizon, editors, Judson Press (Valley Forge, PA), p.3.

[ii] Peter T. Cha and Greg J. Yee (2012), Honoring the Generation, p.89.