“Tell what you Hear and
See” (Matthew 11:2-6)
Rob Tennant, Hillside
Church, Chapel Hill, NC
Third Sunday of Advent,
December 15, 2019
* First Sunday with new
name – “Hillside Church.”
In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, Jesus sends
messages to persecuted Christians in Asia Minor. Here’s the final promise of the message to the
church in the city of Pergamum, “To everyone who conquers I will give some of
the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is
written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it”
(Revelation 2:17). A new name.
When God called Abram, he renamed
him Abraham. Jacob God renamed
Israel. Andrew brought his impulsive,
boisterous fisherman brother to meet Jesus.
Jesus took one look at the man and said, “You are Simon, son of
John. You are to be called Cephas,” Peter
(John 1:42). A new name.
When the flood waters receded, Noah
and his passengers disembarked on Mount Ararat.
When Moses dealt with a different ark, not a boat, but a gold-inlaid box
carrying the law and samples of the manna God gave, he carried that ark to the
top of Mount Sinai in order to meet God.
Atop Mount Carmel, in the power of God, Elijah defeated prophets of the
false God Baal. Psalm 148:9 invites
mountains and hills to join nature’s song praising the Lord. Isaiah 55:12 declares that the mountains and
hills accepted the Psalm’s invitation.
“The mountains and the hills before you shall burst forth into
song.” Atop a mountain, three disciples,
Peter, James, and John, see Jesus clothed with dazzling heavenly splendor
(Matthew 17:2).
Where did Jesus win the victory,
defeating death, covering our sins, and offering himself as the once and for
all time sacrifice for humanity? On a hill far away stood that old rugged
cross. Time and time again, God’s
story is told on hills and mountains.
That’s what is happening here; God’s
story is being told. We will be a church
for Chapel Hill, for everyone in Chapel Hill.
Hillside Church is here to tell God’s story, share God’s love, and help
the people of our town see the way God is at work in their lives. The late Senator Jesse Helms once derided us
in his famous quip, “Why build another zoo?
Why not just build a fence around Chapel Hill?”
We
know better. What Senator Helms mocked,
we love. We know Chapel Hill and
Carrboro are exciting places full of interesting, beautiful people. We thank
God for planting us here and giving us the privilege of being his
storytellers. We open our arms and our
hearts to our community.
Politicians and bigots today used
less inflammatory language than Jesse Helms, but they still sneer as they
describe the “Liberals” in Chapel Hill.
These so-called liberals are people Jesus loved. He died for everyone in Carrboro and Chapel
Hill and all the people living in the Triangle.
He wants us with Him for eternity.
“Hillside Church” is where people can come to be loved and introduced to
the God who loves them.
A
new name. Hillside is the right name
for us right now. We’ve alluded to
numerous times the story of God takes place on hills and mountains. We’ve talked about our town’s name and what
our town means. Whatever anyone else has
to say about our town, we know the people here are God’s beloved children. We need God, and we as a church are here to
point the way to God. What about our church
campus?
Our church building, itself a setting
in which we extend Godly hospitality, sits on a small hill. If you think this slight incline
insignificant, I invite you stand in the parking lot on a blustery day between
November and early March. As the wind
whips up the grassy hill, it chills to the bone. In this place, may the Spirit, the wind of
God, blow fiercely, knocking our socks off, but also filling us that we may
soar on Eagle’s wings. In our people, in
this place, from this Hillside, God bellows forth the blessing of salvation and
life lived in Christ, free to all who would receive it.
John the Baptist had given his life
to speak God’s word into the world’s pain.
For his efforts, the world almost swallowed him whole. The wicked King Herod had John imprisoned
when John publicly confronted him over his immoral marriage. In isolation, only hearing reports when his
followers were permitted to visit him, John wondered. Alone, feeling cut off, he wondered.
Matthew
writes, “When John heard what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his
disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come’” (11:2)? Hearing about Jesus, he had to ask. John reacted to God in action. That same
impulse guides Hillside. A widely used
Bible study that first came out in the 90’s, Experiencing God, asks a simple set of questions. Do we see where God is already working in the
world? Once we see, then will we join in
where God is at work?
Having
heard of Jesus’ actions, John, once so confident but now chained in the prisons
of doubt, asks, “Are you the one?” We
have the post-crucifixion, post-resurrection perspective John did not. We know the baby in the manger, the one
baptized and anointed by the Spirit becomes the savior. Are we living in what we know? As a community committed to following and
worshiping the crucified, resurrected Lord, are we showing him to the
world? John asked, “Are you the
one?” We have to ask, “Will we show the
world Jesus is the one?”
Jesus
responds to John’s disciples. “Go and
tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news
brought to them” (11:4-5). What do we
hear and see? The poor are all around us
living throughout our town and in surrounding areas. When we speak and act and open our doors to welcome
the world in, do the poor receive good news?
The story John felt he was missing plays itself out every day here, in
this space and in our community. John
was trying to respond to God at work.
Jesus honored John’s posture by inviting him to hear the story of
healing that comes whenever Jesus is present.
If
we share what we know of Jesus is it good news for our town, especially the
poor and downtrodden?
We
could describe the past two years in our church life as surprising. We could say it has been tumultuous. We may feel storm tossed. At times the seemingly endless blows from unexpected
places have pounded and exhausted us.
But God has raised us to our feet.
God has set a new vision before us, calling us back to the work He has
always had for us. We are to help people become disciples of Jesus. That’s always been this church’s calling and
God has led us right back to that mission.
God has breathed new life into us.
The
next chapter in our story is the step forward we take. John the Baptist played his role, died in
Herod’s prison, and now awaits resurrection.
The disciples, after meeting with the risen Christ, played their
roles. They went through Jerusalem, then
into Judea and all Samaria, and finally throughout the world, preaching
salvation, making disciples, baptizing in Jesus’ name, and establishing
churches.
Now
it is Hillside’s turn. We share the hope
of eternal life in Christ with all who come to us. And, we equip all who go out from us,
training them in the word of God and in knowledge of the Spirit of God that
they might go in Jesus’ name wherever in the world God leads them.
Jesus
gathered his disciples around the table to offer bread and wine. The bread reminded them of him. Take
and eat; this is my body, broken for you.
John’s suffering at Herod’s hands was a preview of the sorrow of Jesus
beaten and crucified for us. We eat the
bread, his body. We drink the cup, his
blood, the blood of the new covenant. In
this act, we remember that we are united in Christ; whatever differences exist
between people in our body of believers we are united in Christ. In His blood, our sins are forgiven and we
have eternal life.
One
or two here have been with this church dating back to the 1960’s. You are invited to this table, to this bread
and cup, and to this new thing the Spirit of God is doing among us.
Many
of you were here when Carrboro Baptist Church became HillSong Church. It’s still Carrboro Baptist, still HillSong,
and is now Hillside. Across the
decades, we’re linked in our gratitude to God, in our love for him, and for one
another. You are invited to this table,
and to this new thing God is doing, this Hillside adventure.
Some
here have only been with us a few months; maybe today is even your first
time. You are invited to take communion
and to the party afterward, and after that to live life with us – Hillside
Church.
Jesus
told the messengers from John to go to him and tell what they had heard and
seen. Together as a church, we celebrate
the salvation, the forgiveness, and the new life we have in Christ. Then, we go into our little corner of the
world to tell what God has done and is doing in Jesus, and we invite people to
come be part of it.
AMEN
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