Resurrection and Eternal Life

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 5/28/17

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^NRSV1 Corinthians 15: 12-17 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Good morning and welcome to the second part of this sermon series on Jesus Commandments to us, what do they mean and how should they become an integral part of our lives. Today I want to talk about the resurrection and eternal life. How does one form the other and how do we measure up if you will in order to gain from the one, the eternal part of our life journey? In order to start that discussion, we may need to regress a bit and discuss the idea of divine grace. Why do we need it, what is its impact on humanity and what do we have to do to deserve it or gain it?

But we start out with our need to understand what Paul is doing here in this passage. He is providing a rebuttal argument for the Jewish population who is arguing against Jesus resurrection. But he is doing it through an argument that has long been going on between those who believe in the resurrection of the dead and those who do not. You have heard me say that there are those in Paul’s day who believed that this is all there is in life, there is nothing after we die, we simply go back to the cosmos as energy to be used in the greater infinity of time in some other way, that which we are is then lost forever. Seems sad to me to believe that but some do even today. In Paul’s day these folks were called Sadducee’s, since their belief is “so sad you see”. So Paul is arguing that in fact the resurrection is a part of the life journey of everyone, culminating in the resurrection of the soul to heaven with God. The argument then is that if there is a resurrection of the dead that occurs, then it is not only probable that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, but a definite that it occurred. Resurrection is a part of our heritage from as early as the Samarian and Egyptian times of humanity, recorded in the annuals of the Book of Job and carried as tradition for the Israelites from the earliest times of their traditions. We will get back to the resurrection in a moment.

We, because of the disobedience of Adam, all suffer in sin. Sin is the willful disobedience to God, the desire to be in control and to not want anyone or anything to tell us what to do. That power of sin is inherent to the very nature of humanity, most often seen when we throw our little tantrums, have fits when we don’t get our way and treat each other horribly when we feel that someone has stepped into our turf. War, hatred, bigotry, and prejudice are all forms of this willful disobedience. How do I know? Because Jesus commanded us to love God and love one another. So every time we break that love we are disobedient to God. And we do it daily or I might argue, constantly. Why? Because it is inherent to our very nature. We can’t help ourselves but to be willfully in control of our lives and our situations even at the expense of someone else’s life. Now that may seem harsh and yet each of us can recognize the truth in it. That willful nature cannot be tamed by our own natures so it required something greater than us to tame it. It required God. God created us and gave us free will. One could then argue that God set the path to sin even though God cannot sin. Perfect love has no strings or binds and allows us to choose not to love back. So Adam did and as Paul says that through Adam all sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. So it is only when the divine grace of God is superimposed on this willfully disobedient nature that we can find our way back into the kind of love and existence that God intended from the beginning of creation.

“This, then, is the foundation of the new birth, -- the entire corruption of our nature. Hence it is, that, being born in sin, we must be "born again." Hence every one that is born of a woman must be born of the Spirit of God.”[i] Without divine intervention we would be incapable of redemption and so God provides the means through Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the single most pivotal moment in the history of the world. That was the pivotal moment when Christ won the victory over death and took dominion of the world from Satan through his descent into hell and rising from the dead. “Indeed, because of Christ, all persons stand before the possibility of a new relationship to God, whether they recognize and acknowledge it or not.”[ii] From scripture we recognize that Jesus, in this resurrected form was physical with divine capabilities, he could eat and yet walk through walls. Paul through scripture reminds us that our sin which leads to death comes from Adam and yet through the resurrection of Jesus we are made whole.

So what then does the resurrection mean to us? It is validation that we have the promise of resurrection in front of us. It is the promise that we will know one another in that resurrection since we see that Jesus is fully recognizable and known by the Disciples. It is knowing that God has provided us the opportunity to live beyond our physical existence and Jesus ascension lets us know that what He told us about going and preparing a place for us is true. Through the resurrection we know that God has the power over death itself and now we know that death has no hold on us. It gives us the knowledge that death is not the end, only the continuation of a longer journey. 

“When George Bush served as Vice President under the Administration of Ronald Reagan he was called upon to represent the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.” [Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.26. www.bible.org/illus/r/r-57.htm]

Eternal life is the gift that Jesus’ death and resurrection has given through our reception of Him by our faith. (Mark 10:29) “Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, (30) who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age-- houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions-- and in the age to come eternal life.” The scripture reminds me that I have been promised and now have eternal life as a result of the gift of Jesus Christ and my willingness to follow Him in the ministry in which he called me. As a result I believe that one day we will shed this earthly vessel and take on a spiritual one as Paul describes to us in his writings because of God’s grace through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

Father William Bausch told a story of a boy who one morning had arrived very early at school and waited patiently at the door. Next to arrive was a lady who was surprised that this youngster had arrived so early. "It’s locked" the pupil said as the teacher tried the door. She began to fumble for her keys and the pupil immediately brightened up.
"you’re a teacher!" he said enthusiastically
"How do you know that?" she asked
The boy hesitated for a moment, then said with respect
"Ma’am, you have the key"
The teacher in this story was overwhelmed by that simple statement "you have the key" which got her pondering on her responsibilities as a teacher. 

Through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus we have the promise of eternal life. Jesus says, whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. We have been given this promise of immortality. Last week our young people confirmed their faith in God and belief in Jesus. We shared that reaffirmation with them in our own vow and commitment to lead lives worthy of the calling in which we have received and participate. Eternal life is our reward for that belief. As the teacher learned in the story, we have the key to life itself in our faith. My friends let your immortality be the path to show and demonstrate your love for one another and for God. 

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[i] Outler, Albert and Richard Heitzenrater, eds., 1991, page 338

[ii] Runyon, 1998, page 54

Listen - A Mother's Day message

The sermon was not taped due to technical difficulties

Sermon was given at Sydenstricker UMC 5/14/2017

^NRS  Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: ² For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, ³ for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; ⁴ to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young-- ⁵ Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, ⁶ to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. ⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸ Hear, my child, your father's instruction, and do not reject your mother's teaching; ⁹ for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

^NRS  2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, ² To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ I am grateful to God-- whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did-- when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴ Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵ I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷ for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

In 2001 one year before my mother passed away, I gave my first official sermon message as the Lay Leader of Bethia UMC. It was on Mother’s Day and my mother was in attendance that day. That is a bittersweet memory in that one year later she was gone to her eternal salvation. It is I think the only sermon she ever heard me preach. But I thought it appropriate that I resurrect that message on this Mother’s Day since in this place I am gifted with many mothers who have made my life better. We begin this message with Paul’s words to Timothy that remind us that many of us are what we are today because our Mother’s laid a foundation of learning and faith so many years ago. Paul tells Timothy that he is reminded of a sincere faith that first began with his grandmother and then his mother and now it lives within him. I remember years ago my grandmother telling me that I would become a preacher. I thought she was funny and totally out of her mind. Yet, here I am. Life has a way of changing people. Lord knows that my mom saw tremendous change in me during the years we were together. Now my mother was as amazed that I became a preacher as I was. She knew me in the early years and watched me grow. I would say mature but there are those; including myself who often wonder if I have ever fully matured. What fun would that be, right?

We are told in Proverbs by Solomon to listen to the teaching. When I was young, school was always a difficult thing for me, in part, because I wanted to be somewhere else and to fly from the earliest of ages. So while the teacher was trying to teach me I would be looking out at the window at some airplane in the sky and dreaming of being up there. My mother would have this way of getting my attention. You may have experienced this as well. You have to understand I have been accused of being hearing challenged from an early age. She would call me, especially when I was in trouble in a certain way that you knew you were in trouble. It did not matter whether I was in the next room or ¼ mile down the street, I would hear Mom say, Donald Andrew Jamison and I knew that there was trouble for me coming. And you have to understand that my Mom was shorter than me by the time I reached my teen years. But she had an equalizer in the broom that was always close at hand. Mind you I would never call what she did as abusive. She just was not going to take any grief from her children, especially the boys who towered over her at early ages. So let’s sit back and listen about Mom’s on this Mother’s Day.  I believe that women have a special taste of God’s personality.

LISTEN

L is for Love. Not just any kind of love but agape love. Mother’s love their children unconditionally. Oh, they might tell others the mistakes their children have mad but let someone do something mean to their child and look out. A mother loves her child regardless of appearance, personality or physical ability. Even when that child causes his or her mother great harm, hurt and anguish, she still loves them with all that she is. Mother’s see their child as their own blood and flesh and that agape love is how God loves us.

LISTEN

I is for intuition. I used to think my mother was Superwoman. She could see through walls and hear miles away. I learned later that she simply had intuition that told her when I was doing something I should not be doing. I remember when I was younger my brothers and I broke Mom’s favorite candle. It was this tall thing that sat in the living room and we had been rough housing as we often did. And we broke it. So we glued it together and it looked good to us. That is until Mom came home and immediately launched into us about who broke the candle. Or when we would sneak in the kitchen to the cookie jar thinking we were being quite as mice. She could be in the basement and yet she could hear that cookie jar open. Max Lucado says that women have a sixth sense that we men did not get.

LISTEN

S is for sacrifice. Can you think of anyone more sacrificing than a mother? I know life has changed in the years that we have lived, but I bet that in your house the woman is still the keeper of the house and if there are children, for the most part, the keeper of the children. We men go to work and come home, mow the yard and take out the trash only after being told three times to do so. Women wear many hats. They clean the house, do the laundry, do most if not all the cooking and they are the taxi drivers for the children to their activities. And we could go on and on about the things women do for us as we go through life. Well today we say thank you for all you do. We are reminded that sacrifice is the center piece of God’s love for us.

LISTEN

T is for teacher. Moms are our first teachers. They are there to teach us to walk and teach us to talk. I have read that the first seven years are the most influential years of our lives. We learn many of our values and our basic skills in those first seven years. And it is our mothers who provide that profound teaching. Maybe the greatest loss of the modern age is that when I was growing up, it was my Mom that made sure I went to church on Sunday morning. But mothers teach us how to read, how to write, how to get along with one another, they teach us about our culture and about our language. It was my mother who taught me to read and used to tell me that I could do anything in life if I studied, prayed and persevered. Solomon reminds us of this when he tells us that we are not to forsake our mothers teaching.

LISTEN

E is for expectations. Mother’s expectations for her children are always higher than the standards the world sets for us. She believes in her heart that we can be better than we are. She believes in her heart that we can achieve better than she has achieved in life and sets out to help us achieve those expectations. Mother’s want their children to make something of their lives. How many times have you heard your mother say, you need to study and make something of your life? Or as my mother used to tell me, you can be anything you set your mind to. Some of the greatest of those we have encountered in life credit much of what they achieved to their mothers. Michael Jordan, former President Bush and Baseball great Nolan Ryan all credited their success to their mothers. A mother will allow for imperfections but will always expect the best from us. God’s expectation of us is nothing short of perfection. Now God knows that we are imperfect, that is why God sent us Jesus. But God expects that we all are striving on a path to perfection. 

LISTEN

N is for never. A mother never gives up on her child. It is back to that agape love thing. A mother stands by her children even when they get themselves in the worst kind of trouble. Mother’s do not give up on their children even when their children give up on themselves. There was a mother who son brought shame and fear simply because he was born even as he brought her great joy at his birth. He forced her to give up everything in order to protect him as he grew up. He frightened her on more than one occasion but we know about this one. For those of you with children, have you ever been somewhere and all of sudden in the blink of eye your child was not beside you? Remember that fear and anxiety? This woman’s son rebuked her on more than one occasion and in the end provided profound sadness as she had to deal with is death. You might ask who this woman is but I think you already know that it is Mary, Jesus’s mother.

For you see, God gave us mother’s to allow us to see God’s personality.  God created humans in God’s own image, but what are God’s attributes

There is no greater love than the love for us that God has!  God’s love is the true unconditional love, never wavering or ending. God loves us from the moment that we are created inside our mother’s womb until the day we take our last breathe and even beyond that into eternity itself. I suspect that is why God grieves when we deny God. And yet God loves us so much that God gives us that choice. God is intuitive – all seeing and all knowing.  God knows our thoughts, our dreams, and our actions often before we even do them. I have heard God described as being able to see every possibility of every choice we will ever make. God has given the ultimate sacrifice in death on the cross.  There is no greater love than to give one’s life for another. Jesus loved us all the same, whether Gentile or Jew. God does not distinguish between rich and poor, black and white, cultured and raw. Jesus, God, was our first teacher and continues to teach us valuable and important life lessons throughout our lives. God has set the expectations for our lives. Even though God understands that we are imperfect, God pushes us to be better and greater than anything we can personally imagine. But probably the best attribute of God is that God never gives up on us.

LISTEN

LISTEN – let us pray

Who is Jesus - Chapter 10

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Chapter Ten – Who did Jesus know Himself to be

Read John 5 & 6

The very first question I was asked when I set foot at Asbury Theological Seminary was asked by Dr. Chuck Gutenson.  The question was, “Did Jesus know that he was God while he walked the earth?” It is a great theological question that leads to lots of discussion. I remember be somewhat awestruck at the question. He went on to tell us that he was not going to give us an answer to the question, rather, we would have to ponder it and come up with one of our own. In the years since I have often pondered the question from many different avenues. Probably the right question is, “What difference does it make?” And the answer to this question could be that it makes a significant difference depending on your point of view.

So let’s delve into it. So what difference does it make? As far as the teaching of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus would give authority to all that He taught us. And yet, even as the Son of God which we acknowledge either way, Jesus has all the authority He needs. So we can all agree that Jesus teaching are authoritative from God and carry the weight of God.

So now we focus on the miracles of Jesus. If Jesus knows that He is God then Jesus can accomplish anything He desires. Isn’t that what we see in the miracle stories of the Gospel accounts of His life? Jesus even raises folks from the dead, something we know that only God can do. And again, yet, we also acknowledge that God can use any of us as instruments to do what God wants to do. So in reality, again, the divinity or humanity of Jesus is not something that we question.

So it brings us to the one issue that it might mean something about. The death on the cross! If Jesus knows Himself to be God while He walked the earth, what does the death on the cross mean? Can God be sacrificed as God? Though one can argue effectively that God can do anything God desires, it should at least raise the question about sacrifice. In other words, if there is no sacrifice because God cannot truly die, then is there atonement? Can the death of God on the cross, when in reality there is no death at all, fulfill the requirements that God intended with atonement practices that God put into place. Many would say no. Not all mind you, but many. Because of that we would point to the humanity of Jesus on the cross, that Jesus knew Himself to be fully human and yet the Son of God. So Jesus sacrifice is in fact a gift of His life for the atonement for original sin. This carries through to the resurrection. What occurs during the period following Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection is a mystery that only God understands. But if Jesus, truly human, descends into Hell and collects the keys to death and then God brings Him back into life, then resurrection has the significance that God intended. That resurrection is within the power of God alone and that now the promise to you and me can be fulfilled through faith.   

I have listed pertinent chapter and verse in the Gospel of John so that you might see all sides of this argument.

Clearly indicate that Jesus sees Himself as a Subordinate (I am not God)

John 3:16; 4:34; 5:19b-20a; 5:30; 5:36; 5:37; 6:28b-29; 6:38; 6:57; 7:16; 8:16; 12:44-45

These passages give an indication that Jesus understands Himself to be equal to God and yet leave us thinking, but not fully God. (I am equal to God, but….)

John 5:21; 5:26; 6:39-40; 6:44; 6:54; 10:17; 10:30; 17:2

Without question Jesus invokes the name of God as He identifies Himself with I AM (I and God are one)

John 8:24; 8:28; 8:58; 13:19

Within the scriptures we see that:

           There is no reference to what he understood about himself in his own words

Resurrection/ crucifixion overshadows everything else

His teaching is consistent with Old Testament – different style – same words

Therefore:

Jesus understood himself to be:

Human; devout Jew; Pharisee – accepted a lifestyle of following God; Galilean holy man; a prophet; a teacher; the son of man; Messiah; Suffering servant;

           Son of God

Something to ponder!

Who is Jesus - Chapter 9

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Chapter Nine - Crucifixion and Resurrection

Read Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 18 &19

           We begin this chapter by answering one of the frequently asked questions in studying about Jesus. Did He know what lay ahead of Him at the end of His ministry and when did He know it. Suffice it to say that we have quite a few scriptural references that indicate that Jesus did in fact know that His death was coming. Matthew’s Gospel account indicates that He would be crucified. Now the real question is when He knew it. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus speaks of His death towards the end of His ministry as they begin to move toward Jerusalem. Prior to that His ministry has been in and around Galilee. But now He makes a move toward the center of their faith life, the Temple in Jerusalem. Surely at this point the Disciples are well aware of the controversy their leader has stirred up and more than likely are aware of the consequences of that if Jesus follows through with His plan to go to Jerusalem. More than likely Jesus is letting the Disciples know what awaits Him there so that they can be warned about the end. It is during these discussions that Judas begins to focus on forcing Jesus hand to be the Messiah Judas believes Him to be.

           John’s Gospel on the other hand indicates that Jesus knows what is coming long before the end of His ministry. In fact in John 2: 19 we hear these words; ^NRS  John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Now we know that in John’s Gospel Jesus visits Jerusalem twice, at the beginning of His ministry following the miracle of the water and wine in Cana and then at the end in the Passion narrative. Now this raises the more correct question, not when did He know it but what do the Gospel narratives want us to know. John clearly from the beginning is focusing on the divinity of Jesus, that He is God and in fact controls the whole ministry until His death on the cross. We are going to explore this more in the next chapter. Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospel accounts focus more in the humanity of Jesus, His teachings, miracles and movement toward atonement for the world. Truth is we may never know when He knew what awaited Him in Jerusalem. Does it really matter? No, in fact, that He knew makes His decision to go that much more full of Grace.

           Having read the passion narratives in the four Gospel accounts, we have a picture of sacrifice and love. Modern day scientists and scholars have been focusing on this story and the reality of the savagery of it. Crucifixion appears first to the Persians and is used throughout history to the Romans as a means of death. Most often it was used to kill prisoners who had committed heinous or political crimes. It was used by the Romans as a way of persuading folks to stay in line with the order of the day. I have read recently where scientists have identified four types of crucifixion methods including the “T” we are familiar with but also “Crucifixion Simple” in the form of an “X” which seems to be gaining steam as the potential way Christ was crucified. Before He gets to Golgotha He is brutally beaten and scourged. Scourging was in itself a death sentence for most prisoners, the idea of being whipped with a whip that had barbed ends to rip the skin off those who were being punished would likely have killed any other person. The Passion, a movie in 2004, directed by Mel Gibson, depicts this difficult and agonizing last moments of Jesus. Many have said the graphics are over the top. But maybe we have watered it down so that it appeases our sense rather than understanding what He actually went through. But in the end we know that He endured all of this for us. To be accused while He had committed no crime, to be punished severely even though He had hurt no-one and then to be put to death and yet He had not sinned.

            So why did He do it? The simple answer is for you and me. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the single most pivotal moment in the history of the world. That was the pivotal moment when Christ won the victory over death and took dominion of the world from Satan through his descent into hell and rising from the dead. “Indeed, because of Christ, all persons stand before the possibility of a new relationship to God, whether they recognize and acknowledge it or not.”[i] From scripture we recognize that Jesus, in this resurrected form was physical with divine capabilities, he could eat and yet walk through walls. Paul through scripture reminds us that our sin which leads to death comes from Adam and yet through the resurrection of Jesus we are made whole.

But the longer answer begins by looking back in history to understand the covenant relationships that God had with the Israelites. God had created a series of instructions for the people of Israel about atonement for sin and sacrifice. In those instructions found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God has laid down the way in which sin is atoned for humankind. God makes covenants and even though human beings have continually broken them, the covenants and the methods by which covenants are kept is intact. Sin must be atoned though the sacrifice of a living lamb or other animal and the blood of that sacrifice offered up to God. From these early understandings of sacrifice we come now to the beginning if you will of the true atonement story. Jesus becomes the personification of the Passover Lamb. When John the Baptizer in John’s Gospel sees Jesus coming down to the river Jordan, he calls out “Here comes the Lamb of God’. The significance of that can be found in the Passover story, a story central to the Hebrew faith and I would suggest the Christian faith. In that story found in Exodus 12, we see that God tells the people of Israel to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and to take the blood of that lamb, place it on the doorways and entranceways to their homes. That night as God brings death to the surrounding Egyptians, the people whose doorways are marked are passed over into life.

We know that sin leads to death, spiritual death, the place where we spend eternity in the absence of God. Now God did not create sin or evil and because God is pure cannot tolerate sin or evil, it is a condition of the world brought about by the unwavering love of God. How can this be? God’s love is such that we have a choice whether to love God back. That is true unconditional love. But as a consequence, angels and humans have turned away from God when given that choice and that turning away brings sin and evil into the world. That inherent nature that lies deep within our very beings is not something that we can make go away. Only God could do that! Therefore, since God had established that atonement for sin meant sacrifice and God chooses to atone for our sins, the death of God in human form, Jesus, was in a since preordained the moment Adam broke the one rule he was given. Jesus came here ultimately for this very moment. His teaching and miracles were to proclaim to the world who He is so that we might understand the sacrifice and make the connection to Passover.   

           So here we are. Jesus goes to the cross knowing full well what it means. I wonder often if He truly understood what the pain and suffering would be like even though I believe He fully knew it was coming. Jesus went to the cross to lay down His life for the rest of us. That the pain of original sin would finally be laid to rest and the path back to God would be available. But that is only part of the story. We understand that through the power of resurrection that death no longer has a hold on us. What happened from the moment of death on the cross to the moment of resurrection and an empty tomb shall forever remain a mystery to us. But what we do know is that through the power of that resurrection, Jesus now claims us as His own. Our eternal lives have opportunity and promise. In place of darkness and existing in a place where God’s presence is no longer felt, we have the opportunity to sit at the table of God forever. The resurrection of Jesus has shaken the world order and turned it upside down.

^NRS  John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

  

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[i] Runyon, 1998, page 54

Nature and Mission of the Church

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 04/30/17

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^NRS  Matthew 28:16  Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I believe that the thing that separates us the furthest from our brothers and sisters of faith in the first century is that we have forgotten our purpose. I believe that they accepted their commission and never wavered from it. I believe that they understood the message that it gave and what message they were supposed to send. And I believe that when we accept our commission and understand the message we can do great things. George Sweeting, in his book The No-Guilt Guide for Witnessing, tells of a man by the name of John Currier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, Tennessee. In 1968, Currier’s sentence was terminated, and a letter bearing the good news was sent to him. But John never saw the letter, nor was he told anything about it. Life on that farm was hard and without promise for the future. Yet John kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he worked had died. Ten years went by. Then a state parole officer learned about Currier’s plight, found him, and told him that his sentence had been terminated. He was a free man. Sweeting concluded that story by asking, "Would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message -- the most important in your life -- and year after year the urgent message was never delivered?"

I believe that the nature and mission of the church continues to be centered on Jesus Christ, offering Jesus to all persons that they may know him as the Son of God and through him enter into the Kingdom of God growing in the image of Christ and witnessing to the world. The nature of the church is to be the sign of the reign of God, exists to be a redemptive community and to be the instrument of God’s presence by providing the means of grace in the offering of the sacraments, Word, order and service. The church is a foretaste, an appetizer of the Kingdom of God which will be fulfilled completely in the feast at the table of God on the mountain of God. The church through its worship brings the Word of God to the world and proclaims the message of grace, love and salvation. The church is, “a community of believers brought together by the profession of the same faith and conjoined in the communion of the same sacraments.”[i]

When someone comes into our worship service, from the moment they enter the doors, they need feel the very presence of God and the Kingdom of God.

We do that and we do it well. But what if we did it seven days a week and we did it everywhere we live? What if we gave hugs, showed genuine concern and showered people with love every day and every place in the world? You see the church is not the building as the song says, it is the people. That means that it is you that is the church. So we can share the very essence of the church, the very essence of God’s love with the world by reaching out into the world and loving one another. That is what is meant by the Go therefore in the scripture. In other words, do not stay where you are but go into the world. We are to be the message carriers of God’s love and we cannot do that if we spend all our energy in these walls. Jesus wanted us to know that we are being tasked by God to Go.

The mission of the church includes leading a meaningful, relevant worship within the church which relates to the community both inside and out through the use of a scripture based interactive and uplifting service. And in that worship we proclaim the WORD of God through the message and the grace of God with the Clergy presiding over the giving and taking of the sacraments. In addition to the worship service, the church builds disciples for the transformation of the world through Sunday school and small group study where we continue the study, discussion and understanding of Christ together in fellowship with one another.

We are told that we need to baptize. But this baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus described to Nicodemus. It is more than just pouring or immersing oneself in water. It is the immersion of the Holy Spirit within us that we might share in the total relationship with God that God desires of us. Notice that it does not say go out and baptize. Rather it says, go and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, this is a total immersion of God surrounding us, cleansing us, and filling us up with the power and love of God. Don’t get this total immersion confused with total immersion in water. They are not the same. One gets us wet, this one gets us well. Jesus tells us this so that we know what is being asked of us in our own lives as well what we are to do with others. Anything less is unacceptable. If you give yourself to God, it must be a complete giving. Do you stand at the plate in baseball and give less than all. If you do you cheat yourself and your team. So it is also true in our Christian faith.

We are to teach ourselves and those who come to know Christ the commandments of Christ. Do we know what they are? How can we teach what we do not know ourselves? Jesus commanded us to Love God with all our hearts, our minds and our souls. That is that total immersion of God that we talked about. And then to love our neighbors in the same way with a total immersion of love that they might feel and experience the love of God. Bishop Cho has a saying that he says at every prayer and in most of his sermons. “God’s will be done, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else.” I think that sums up pretty well the idea of God filling us up so that there is nothing else but God within us. Jesus wants us to know that the church is about love. Our central focus needs to be love. Love for God and love for one another. Jesus did not exclude anyone in that message. He wants us to love one another unconditionally as God loves us first. That is the central message of the Gospel and the whole Bible. What Jesus taught about loving God and loving neighbor is integrated in the stories of the Old and New Testament. We are to be a loving people, caring and nurturing our fellow human beings.

In addition, the church is responsible for outreach and nurturing ministries to the community and the world. We do this through service ministries aimed at providing for those who are in need with an emphasis on eliminating poverty where we are able to do so, standing against social injustice wherever we find it and reaching out with love to those we encounter. The church has lost its focus as the center of the community and we as clergy should work to reestablish this within our appointed communities.

Our primary task is completed by receiving, relating, equipping and sending disciples in the world, found in our missional statement in (Matthew 28:19) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." I believe that the nature and mission of the church is summed up in those words, that we are tasked with finding those who are searching wherever they may be, building relationships with them in order to win them to Christ, building disciples through our instruction on the Word and then sending them out in mission to the world.

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do. "Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them." For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked -- "By the way, did you take my advice?" "How did it work?" "Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed." "Well," asked the chaplain, "How did that work?" The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest." The young man knew better than the so called “man of God” about what his purpose was.

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[i] Garrett, 2005/06, n.p.