|
A message by
Rev. F. David Throop, Pastor
March 23, 2008
Easter Sunday
Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
Please pray with me: Loving and gracious God, according to the words we have just read, the gathering on that mountain top was a bit divided. Some worshipped the risen Christ, yet there were some who still doubted. Dear Lord, on this Easter Sunday, as we complete our consideration of some of the tools in our Lord’s ministry, before that tool box is closed, help each one of us with courage and joy to say, “Wait, Lord, don’t forget me.” In his life-giving name we pray. Amen. You know as well as I do that Jesus certainly did not carry with him a tool box filled with a variety of tools. In fact, if Jesus practiced what he preached, he carried very little with him. Remember what he told his own disciples as he was sending them out? “Take nothing for the journey — take no staff, no bag, no bread, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.” In other words, discipleship is always a journey of faith.
And yet, everywhere Jesus went, he had tools — six earthen jars with water which he changed into wine when he was at a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee, spit and dirt to make mud in order to give the gift of sight to a young man born blind as he was in Jerusalem near the Pool of Siloam, a whip to drive animals out of the Court of the Gentiles also in Jerusalem enabling non-Jews a place to worship, some bread and a cup as part of the new covenant at the Passover meal, a pitcher, basin, and towel for washing and then drying his disciples’ feet, demonstrating the need to serve with humility, and finally, five small loaves of barley bread and two fish which he would use to feed a crowd of several thousand hungry people as he was on a hillside in northern Galilee. “Tools of the Trade,” is what we have been calling these weekly studies during this Easter season. And now, on this Easter Sunday, there is just one more.
Or is it several more? Or is it several hundred more, or even several thousand more? It all depends on what happened after Jesus’ ascension on a mountain top. After all, according to the scripture we have just read, some of those who were gathered on that mountain top worshipped, while others doubted. It was not, as they say, a very homogeneous group.
But, has the Church — not this particular congregation, but rather the larger Church — has the larger Church ever experienced complete unity and harmony? Has there ever been a time when the larger Church was without friction or faction? Even in your own involvement with the church over presumably a great many years for some of you, have you ever known a single moment when everyone, as they say, “was on the same page?” Has there ever been a time in the history of the Christian Church when everyone worshipped and no one doubted?
Answer? Probably not. Look around. Why do you think there are the thousands of denominational divisions that we have today within the Christian Church? For example, why is it that in the country of South Korea alone, there are over one hundred different Presbyterian denominations?!
Even in the early church immediately following the ascension of Christ, the fledgling church continued to experience its ups and downs.
Now, some may challenge this by calling our attention to the Book of Acts, chapter 4, verse 32 where we read, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they all shared everything they had.” While that may be the description, we know better, for in the very next section we are introduced to a married couple in that church by the name of Ananias and Sapphira. And we are told that they sold some of their property, but instead of abiding by the rules agreed upon as members of the church they kept some of the profit of that land sale back for themselves, an act which brought such spiritual and physiological trauma to them that they both perished on the spot. Don’t you see? In every gathering, Christian or otherwise, there are always those who think differently and who behave differently, and whose thinking or behaving is not always within the realm of Christ-like principles.
Here on a mountain top, at the ascension of our Lord, we are told that the people were divided. Some worshipped the risen Lord, yet some doubted. Welcome to ministry within the larger Christian Church!
Orderliness versus confusion. We Presbyterians are known for our orderliness, or so it is said. “Decently and in order” — that’s the tag line. And overall, it fits well with me, because in case you didn’t know it, I am Presbyterian through and through, and most of the time proud of it. I suppose it could be said that I almost “bleed” Presbyterian. My entire life from day one to the present has been spent in the Presbyterian Church.
My grandparents were Presbyterian as were my own parents, and thus, all of the important acts and milestones of my life have been celebrations within the Presbyterian Church. I was born into a Presbyterian family, baptized in the Presbyterian Church and confirmed into membership in the Presbyterian Church. I graduated and received my Bachelor of Arts degree from a Presbyterian College and later on received my Master of Divinity degree from a Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I met and married a Presbyterian, and Mary’s and my wedding was held in a Presbyterian Church. A short time later I was ordained into the gospel ministry by the Presbyterian Church, and during the past thirty-six years, the congregations I have served have been Presbyterian. I don’t know about you, but in terms of my religious “pedigree,” I am Presbyterian through and through!
I suppose it could be argued that in all of this, I have been surrounded by and work within the framework of a larger religious family which appreciates order, a family which not only appreciates order, but which values the end results of those who also believe in following a general path of orderliness. In other words, I work much better when everyone worships and no one doubts.
Along this theme of orderliness, one of the reasons I enjoy my Mondays off is that a portion of those Mondays I do our yard work. Our yard is also “Presbyterian,” that is, it is fairly neat and orderly and well-kept, especially the back yard. I keep the mower blade sharpened and I always use an edger. Our yard is Presbyterian, that is, I do my best to keep it “decently and in order.”
But, in terms of true orderliness, it’s simply not like this in terms of the larger church, including even, and perhaps especially, the Presbyterian Church. On this mountain top event in Matthew’s account, here in the beginning days of the Christian Church, we are given just a brief glimpse of what is to come: some worshipped, but some doubted. Some honored the risen Lord, but some had misgivings. Welcome to ministry!
As I shared in both of the Lenten Bible groups I have been leading, if I were given the privilege of reflecting on the nature of ministry and could share with graduating seminary seniors what to expect once they leave the hallowed halls of learning, among the first of matters I would want to share with them is that doing ministry is messy business, sometimes very messy. I would share with them that if there are eight people in a church committee meeting, it will not at all be unusual for eight different positions to be offered, and sometimes argued.
My “baptism” into this came in the first church I served back in Iowa when the major decision of the day was to choose new carpeting for the sanctuary. After lengthy discussion over various fabrics, the vote was 7-1, with the one person with the opposing vote going home in tears. The chair of the committee felt sorry for her, as she was only a high school student, and so the committee was reconvened the next evening, and the seven reversed their vote to appease the one dissenting vote.
Ministry is sometimes messy business. After all, we do come from different backgrounds, we have different life experiences, we certainly have a wide variety of personalities, and we see colors differently. We are not only different, but in our differences, we are all very, very unique. But I would be quick to add that some of the time we might even want to celebrate these uniquenesses of ours. After all, here on a mountain top in Galilee, at the moment of our Lord’s ascension, some worshipped, but some doubted.
But I guess that’s okay as long as all of them followed. The healthiest congregations today are not so much those whose members both worship and doubt, but rather, those whose members, as they worship and doubt, continue to follow, and follow with loving faithfulness.
A little less than two weeks ago, your Mission Committee met and a part of the evening was spent in reviewing most of the many mission outreach ministries which are part of this congregation. And as a part of that review it was suggested that we ought to make available a resource of “people tools,” those who are either members of this congregation or even non-members who worship with us on a regular basis, and whose pattern of worship would indicate that, members or not, this church is their spiritual home base. We agreed that we need to have a “tool box” of sorts with the names of those we can call on when there are special needs or opportunities which arise in the midst of not only our mission ministries but in the midst of all of our collective ministries.
And when it was suggested that some time during these spring months we ought to begin working on such a list and getting it ready for distribution, I said how about Easter Sunday? After all, the theme of this Easter season is tools of the trade, and after all, the need for those tools certainly continues.
And so, each of you has received with your worship bulletin this morning an inventory form of sorts. Many of you are already actively involved in one or perhaps several of these areas of ministry. That is, some of you are already “tools of the trade” in terms of our Lord’s ministry today. But our Lord needs more, always more.
What we are asking this morning is for everyone present to sign and return your form with something indicated. Now, this may surprise you, but even if you are an out of town guest worshipping with us today, and even though we may never see you again, I want to invite your participation. For example, if you are a guest here today, what I would ask from you is a commitment that at least every once in a while you will pray for this church. I trust that all of us believe that no Christian church can operate apart from the faithfulness of the prayers of the people. We want you to indicate that you will remember to pray for us once a day, once a week, maybe even once a month, but that on some basis you will pray for us.
And your prayer doesn’t have to be very long or very detailed. It will simply be comforting as well as encouraging to know that here and there, all around our nation, there will be people offering a prayer to God something along these lines, “Lord, I want to remember once again the Placentia Presbyterian Church. I want to thank You for the privilege of worshipping with them on Easter, and I simply want to ask Your continued blessings on them, that they will be faithful to You, and that each of them can be tools of blessings within Your own hands.”
That’s all you need to pray. Simply remember us, and if you write down the name of your church, we will remember you. As there is no special category entitled “Prayer,” just sign your name and write the name of your home church, and we will not only be encouraged in all that we do knowing that in places far away from this campus, there are people praying for this congregation and our many ministries, but we will promise to be an encouragement for you.
As for those of you who are members of this congregation, we would like a form back from each of you, as well. And there will be no excuses! If our friends from out of town will be praying for us, there is simply no way the rest of us cannot also be in prayer. If you are one of our members and you are already involved, indicate that as well.
And if you are not involved, we need your name and we need to know if we can simply visit with you based on the area of ministry you have indicated.
And if we have missed anything in terms of ministry opportunities, add a new item wherever you would like. And I do mean anything. In fact, if you would like to preach, if you have a sermon within and you are just about to explode because you believe that the sermon our Lord has given to you needs to be proclaimed, make a note of it, and get in touch with me right away.
And now, one last item. Late this week I read a fairly lengthy sermon by Charles Colson, a man who will always be remembered not only as special counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, but I hope especially as founder and president of Prison Fellowship, a ministry he started following the seven months he served in prison as a result of the Watergate scandal which eventually toppled the President.
In his sermon*, which I believe is one of the finest sermons I have ever read, he concludes with six challenges. And while just the closing part of his hour-long sermon was easily fifteen or twenty minutes, I will simply list his six challenges, because as I read through them, even though his sermon focus was a bit different than this one, those six conclusions seem to fit perfectly with our theme for today.
First, as followers of Christ you and I need to get serious in our own lives with God. It’s not about sitting still in a worship service for an hour or so once a week or once a month. It’s about getting serious in our own lives about our Lord.
Second, as followers of Christ in today’s world, you and I need to be a repentant people. Before we can hear the good news of our redemption from sin, there needs to be the bad news of our conviction of sin.
Third, as followers of Christ, you and I need to take our stand at the only place we can take it, and that stand is on the Holy Word of God. In other words, if you and I are to be followers of Christ, the only way we can do so is by claiming the authority of Christ’s word in our lives.
Fourth, as followers of Christ, it is absolutely vital that you and I think as Christians. This means that in all that you and I do and are, we need to look at the world through God’s eyes and not our own.
Fifth, as followers of Christ, you and I have no other option in our lives than to be obedient to Christ. The heart of a Christian life is obedience to the way of Christ, and in this there are simply no exceptions.
And sixth, as followers of Jesus Christ, you and I are called to be holy, and thus we need to be holy. Being holy does not mean simply avoiding some of the entangled legalisms of the church — smoking, gambling, and things of that nature. It means always having a heartbeat for Christ, always caring about those for whom Christ cared, and then doing the good works that Christ did.
Don’t you see, and don’t you understand? Our Lord has now invited you and me to be the next generation of his own tools of the trade, and not only for today, but as long as we claim his name and as long as we follow in his footsteps.
His tool box is still open and his invitation still stands.
(* The six points were from a sermon entitled, “This Is the Church’s Hour,” preached by Charles Colson and printed in the book, Best Sermons 2, edited by James W. Cox, 1989, Harper and Row, publisher.) Copyright © 2008 by Rev. F. David Throop. All rights reserved. No part of this sermon may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of a very brief quotation, which will acknowledge the source. |
