We Live in Noah's Ark

Some food for thought for tonight from Telford Work:

In spite of all of their failings, "Our theological tradition is like Noah's ark: leaky, dark, smelly, confining, sometimes even oppressive. The alternative is free, light, fresh, open, - and fatal.
"What do we do on the ark? We muck out the stalls. We bail out the water. We fix leaks and try not to cause bigger ones in the process. We go up on deck to search for the land we've been promised - the back down to do the jobs on which our lives, all of our lives, depend. And we thank God for every new breath we take, even if every new breath carries a stench that 'could knock a yak flat.'"

For all of you who despair about the church, who think that Christians make Christianity unworthwhile, or who want to determine their own definition of what we should be doing because what they see God demanding of them is not good enough, perhaps there is some hope and encouragement in Telford's words. While the church is an imperfect glimpse of God's kingdom, it is a glimpse nonetheless, and it is the only one God has chosen to give to us.

Reaching the iGen/Millennial/Next Generation

I am blessed to pastor at a church that is aware of life cycles in churches and as a result is fully engaged in raising up younger leaders to continue to guide and participate in the church and God’s work in the next generation. Every aspect of our strategic plan seeks to identify and empower the leaders God brings to the church in these ways.

As we think about and empower young leaders, we share articles and research among the staff. This week, one of the articles was titled, “Storming the Castle: Reaching ‘iGens’ Means Breaking through Inflated Self-Esteems” by Scot McKnight. McKnight identifies two aspects of today’s young adult culture and two ways in which he believes we can break through these new challenges. Challenges: 1) Young adults possess inflated self-esteems and high levels of self-acceptance that are nothing short of castle walls protecting them from a need for God’s grace. 2) iGens are pre-moral, in the sense that they don’t really have a sense of sin or feel guilt. Solutions: A) Start with Jesus instead of the person’s sin and alienation from God. B) Create a community marked by justice, peace, love, and holiness to connect with iGens.

As an “iGen” (whatever that actually means) myself and as a pastor who works with them on a daily basis, I want to question some of McKnight’s reasoning and assumptions, without actually challenging his conclusions. Perhaps this deeper understanding can help us reach this generation in more fruitful ways.

Yes, we grew up in a culture of affirmation. Sports teams celebrated participation more than winning. Elementary schools resisted giving letter grades or teaching games where a person or team lost. We were told that we can do anything we set our minds to do. We believe that differences are acceptable, or perhaps even good, and we are less likely to believe that the way we do something is the right way to do it.

In addition, many of us grew up largely unchurched. Our parents are children of the 60’s and 70’s, and their attempt to encourage creativity or “allow us to make our own choices” meant that we often grew up in homes where rules were absent and beliefs were allowed but not formed. While not all of our parents raised us without rules and beliefs, and our parents’ generation is no more monolithic than our own, these are true characterizations of many of our parents. As a result, you may have a difficult time convincing us of our sin. We don’t even know what that word would actually mean, so we certainly don’t feel guilty about it.

In both of his characterizations of iGens, McKnight is absolutely correct. However, I object to his assumption that that previous methods of evangelism were the correct ones. Since the Reformation, preachers have often preached a gospel that proceeds something like this: God loves you, but you are a sinner [this assumes that you understand enough of Christianity to know what sin is]. You cannot please God, and your sin (and therefore you) angers God deeply. You deserve God’s wrath, and he is angry. You can never do any good to get to God (or heaven), and you are trapped in hopelessness and despair [or you are stupid if you don’t recognize this fact]. But there is good news. Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, and then died on a cross where God (specifically the Father, although often unnamed) put all of his punishment and anger for your sin on Jesus. So believe that Jesus died for you and rose again from the dead, and God will accept you into heaven.

Laying aside for a moment the NUMEROUS problems with this conception of the “gospel,” we need to understand that for 500 years we have been preaching this message largely to Westerners who are churched/Christianized. We only have a conception of original sin, human depravity, right and wrong, and our sin because God has revealed to us what I means to be holy. When Luther struggled with his sinfulness, he was firmly planted in the Catholic Church. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he was preaching revival in the Christian communities of New England.

This message was incredibly effective. It brought people to their knees in repentance. You can remind people who understand what God desires that they are guilty. Convincing non-Christians who do not understand sin that they are guilty might be the wrong way to approach them – this message had been far less effective in unChristianized areas. There, the gospel spreads through life lived together, as God reveals himself to the people by bringing his Kingdom into their midst. We do not travel to Asia and assume that they already know that they are sinners and are looking for a way to be reconciled to God (or if we do, we are incredibly ineffective and most likely quite damaging!). Instead, we approach these people in relationship, love them, and life in God’s Kingdom in their midst. Over time, they encounter God and learn what it means to be holy.

I want to suggest that we approach this generation more like the peoples in our mission fields and less like our Christian grandparents. While our parents’ generation often walked away from the church in which they had been raised, they often chose not to raise this generation in the church. If today’s young adults don’t believe “anything” or understand their own sin, perhaps we need to remember that it was their parents’ generation which taught them to believe that no beliefs are necessary and there are no limits on their actions. We are reaping the fruit of our own actions. We have created the first unChristianized generation in American history.

This is where McKnight has everything right. We should be starting with Jesus when we reach out to young adults, not because they believe that they are perfect like Jesus (they don’t by the way), but because we should ALWAYS start with Jesus. Our attempts to tell a gospel message that make Jesus tangential to God’s work are perhaps more unfaithful than we realize. We just didn’t understand that in the midst of another paradigm that we called the gospel because it was effective in bringing those who knew the story to repentance. The Father reveals himself to us through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus, we have NOTHING to preach. We also present a compelling vision of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love, peace, and holiness. The Kingdom is not an evangelistic tool to reach this generation; it is our reality as the people of God. The Spirit has drawn us into this new community. When we live this new life, it will always be compelling. When our communities do not look this way, we need to be reminded (like Israel of old) that we are saying formless words which God does not honor because our lives are not lived in obedience to him. When we live in God’s Kingdom and share the news of Jesus, we will find that this generation is transformed by the power of God.

Romans 6:1-23 The Freedom of God

It is at times like these, around America’s patriotic holidays, that I need a reminder of what it means to be a member of the church. Ray Boltz, a Christian musician, has a song that provides just such a reminder. In the chorus, he boldly proclaims:

“I pledge allegiance to the lamb, with all my strength, with all I am. I will seek to honor his commands. I pledge allegiance to the lamb.”

This is not the pledge our children recite in schools, nor is it the proclamation we heard at Independence Day celebrations this weekend. But it should be our proclamation as members of the body of Christ.

Now I do not think that we should hate America, or even that we should necessarily disobey its rules. A little later in the letter to the Romans, Paul will tell the churches to obey their earthly authorities because they also have been appointed by God. But our obedience and allegiance is first and foremost to Christ.

In the first years after the crucifixion, Christians started to be persecuted, first by zealous Jews like Paul, and then by Roman authorities who viewed Christianity as sedition, a horrible crime in their eyes. The Romans were actually correct. Jesus is politically threatening. He calls people to follow him above family, friends, job, and country. The people who follow Jesus are ruled by his blood and their obedience to him, before, and at times instead of, obedience to government officials. So the Romans were actually correct when they realized that the Christians would not give their ultimate allegiance to Rome.

In our Christian history, we have the stories of the martyrs – those Christians who stood by their proclamation of faith in God even when it cost them their lives. There are people like the Bishop Polycarp, who faithfully strengthened his churches when he was being led to his death. Even when he was given multiple chances to deny being a Christian, Polycarp always stood strong until he was finally led into the arena to be killed by wild animals. Polycarp had one choice to make to save his life from the Romans by denying Christ, or to follow Jesus in obedience even to his death.

Justin Martyr was an apologist who tried to convince the Romans to stop condemning Christians for their faith. He explained that Christians were good Roman citizens who followed the laws, cared for the sick, and paid taxes. The one thing that Christians would not do, according to Justin, was offer sacrifices to or worship any god or person besides the God of Jesus Christ. As his name suggests, Justin too was martyred by the Romans.

For all of these martyrs, from the 1^st century until today, obedience to Jesus was the goal of their lives. They had tasted the kingdom of God and were pursuing it no matter what the cost. By the time Paul wrote Romans, he had also known suffering and imprisonment, yet he gives a broader perspective reminding us of the work Christ has done and why we seek to live in holiness and obedience.

In America, we like to think of ourselves as free, and as those who offer freedom to people who are oppressed. Modern society has trained us well to make our own decisions and rely only on ourselves. We think we are free.

But when we have experienced the salvation of God, we learn that we were not really free. In Rom 7, Paul tells us that we were controlled by our sinful natures. Look at verse 14:

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

This is who we were. Instead of being free as we thought, we were in bondage and captivity to the powers of sin and death. Paul has many choice phrases for our condition. We were: ruled by sin, mastered by death, obeying evil desires, aroused by sinful passions, and doing what is evil. We are not free. We are in slavery to evil, sin, and death, and we need a redeemer.

Although we were once in slavery to sin and death, we have been set free by the blood of Jesus, and he, the only God, became human and walked the earth among us. He has lived a faithful life where we have fallen short, and then he has been crucified and resurrected on the third day. And we participate in the redemption of Jesus. Look back at chapter 6 verse 3.

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ⁵ If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be untied with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Jesus’ death and resurrection are not abstract ideas which seem good. His death and resurrection are not even historical events which happened to Jesus and which we remember. We actually participate in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. As we are baptized, the water symbolizes our death to the old life and our rising to new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit draws us into the life of Christ and into the holiness and faithfulness which are his.

|| If this is who we are, people who participate in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and who are being drawn up into the holiness of Christ, then Paul is right. Our lives are being transformed as we submit ourselves to the authority of Christ. We surrender what we thought was freedom, and we find that we are truly free only as we serve God and surrender to him. Instead of thinking that freedom means having no restrictions, we learn that we gain greater freedom through disciplined obedience. Just as a gymnast gains the freedom to do more difficult flips by the discipline of 5 hour work outs. Just as the pianist gains the freedom to play a Mozart requiem through the discipline of scales and sight-reading. Our discipline in obedience to Christ gives us the freedom to do even greater works for his kingdom as we are drawn further into the holiness of Christ.

As we live in that holiness, our lives are transformed. Our decisions begin to conform to God’s commands as we participate in his grace. We live more like the Sermon on the Mount, forgiving each other, sharing our lives with each other, and helping the weak and poor. We learn to build one another up, making sure that our words and actions are life-giving instead of life-taking, just as Anny spoke of two weeks ago, and we contribute our gifts and talents to the building up of Christ’s body, which is the church.

This disciplined obedience also means that we live in service to him and not anything else. We do not live in service to our jobs or making money. We are not controlled by the demands of style and high society. We are not restricted by a particular location, but are free to follow obediently, like Jared and Catherine. We realize that our families do not belong to us but are gifts from God, given as a trust for us to care for and lead in obedience to Christ. When obedience to Christ does not conflict with these other areas of our lives, then we are free to offer them obedience below our obedience to Christ. But if following Christ conflicts with the other demands on our lives, our obedience to Christ must come first.

As we participate in the work which God is doing, and as all of the areas of our lives are brought into the patter of Christ, we catch a glimpse of why the martyrs would die for Christ and how they would be able to confess Christ even when their lives are threatened.

The martyrs have been baptized with Christ and have died with him. They knew that they would also be raised to new life with Christ. They had surrendered to Christ in obedience and been disciplined in following him in every area of their lives. So when persecutions came, nothing that people could do could take away their love and obedience to Jesus. They would risk losing their jobs instead of taking advantage of a system that rewarded those who denied Jesus. They would lose friends, relatives, and community members who did not approve of their commitment to Christ, but they had gained citizenship in a new kingdom called Heaven, and they lived only as resident aliens in their own countries. They withstood being thrown in prison, knowing that their witness was not for destruction but was used by God for the spreading of the gospel. They even faced death, but they knew that they had already died with Christ, so no earthly being could kill their souls.

Our brother Paul was another of the many saints who have been martyred throughout the ages. He had seen many sufferings, as he recounts for us in 2 Corinthians 11, beginning in the second half of verse 21:

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about – I am speaking like a fool – I also dare to boast about./ Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am i. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus 1. (40 lashes could kill a person, so the Jews, reduced the number by 1.)here times I was beaten with rods (this is the Roman punishment, given out by Roman authorities). Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches…….And finally at the end of the list, in chapter 12 verse 9, Paul ends by saying, “The Lord said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul had been so trained in the obedience of his baptism, that all of those sufferings actually became the strength of Christ and spread the news of the gospel, allowing Paul to do even greater work for the kingdom of God.

As we follow the examples of people like Paul, Justin, and Polycarp, and the thousands of other martyrs throughout history, we are drawn into Christ and transformed into obedient children of God. we become people who will live in obedience to Christ no matter what the cost, and giving up our obedience to other things that desire our service and worship. L

As we seek to live into our baptism with Christ, let us today reaffirm our baptismal vows. As the liturgy appears on the screen, I invite you to consider the words you are proclaiming. At the end of the liturgy, there will be time for you to remember your baptism as you come forward to the water, dip your fingers in the bowl, and trace the sign of the cross on your forehead. If you desire either prayer or confession before you approach the waters, please approach Pastor Susan or Pastor Anny on either side of the altar, or feel free to kneel at the front. A video will be playing while you pray.

Joel 2:23-32

23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm ^[a]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

^[b] 28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.

The last week has been quite crazy for Californians and those who know and love them. The whole country has been caught up in the news of the fires which have swept across hundreds of miles of fields and cities. With the hot Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert, the normally temperate 60 and 70 degree weather rose into the 90’s and 100’s. One spark from a tractor, one lightning strike, one fallen power line, one arsonist’s match exploded into a raging inferno. As 80-100 foot walls of flame approached homes, businesses, and fields, residents and firefighters alike fled.

Californians know that fires are disastrous. Only four years ago, we watched as fires engulfed 2,500 homes. As separate fires expanded, they joined together and flattened entire cities. Driving the once tree and house-lined streets, all you could see were charred remains and fallen ash. Houses were distinguishable only by the slight rises which had once been computers or refrigerators. Much of Southern California looks this way now. Houses that are being rebuilt from 2003 are threatened again, and crops are being destroyed.

Normally, as you drive along the valleys and coastline of Southern California, you pass miles of orchards, vineyards, and fruit fields. Now crops have burned. Over ½ of the avocado crop has burned. Apple, orange, and peach orchards, and strawberry fields have literally gone up in smoke.

It is right that as we wonder and fear the fires in California, our lectionary directs us to the book of Joel. Joel teaches us that both disasters and blessings reveal the glory of God.

As shocked and horrified as we have been during the fires of the past week, Joel was prophesying an even greater destruction in Israel. Before the passage we read this morning, Joel describes an invasion of locusts and calls the people to lament. Locusts can hatch and move through an area in numbers of thousands per square yard eating every living plant. Joel says that the first locusts came through and ate the plants, and a second, and a third, and a fourth wave swarmed through Israel eating whatever the group behind them had left. The vines were laid waste, fig trees were ruined, the bark was stripped off the trees, and the fields and grain were destroyed. Locusts leave a shortage of food in their wake, but four waves of locusts leave widespread famine in the land.

In the midst of the destruction, Joel calls on the priests and temple servants to put on sackcloth, the traditional mourning attire, and wail. They are to declare a holy fast and summon the elders and all the people to come to the house of God and cry out to the Lord. We understand Joel’s words, “To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.” (1:19-20)

As God responds to the people, we learn that God is at the head of the army of locusts calling the people to repent. The Lord declared, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

Our passage this morning is part of the Lord’s response to the fasting and praying of his people. “Be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God! for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.” Rejoice. Rejoice? The land has been destroyed by the locusts, and the people and animals are starving. Rejoice? No crops means no seed. How will the people survive the coming year? Yes, rejoice. God will repay his people for the years the locusts have eaten, God’s army which God sent among the people.

God’s grace and mercy are abundant in the midst of his people Israel, for he will repay them for the years the locusts have eaten. God entered into a covenant with his people at Sinai after he led them out of Egypt and across the desert. God would be faithful to care for his people and bring them into their own land which would produce abundant crops. God would protect his people from the people groups around Israel, and he would make other nations afraid of Israel because of God’s presence and power among them. In return, Israel would love and worship God alone. They would obey his commandments and worship him faithfully, and as God’s people, they would be a light to the nations. Israel, however, stopped trusting God as soon as the covenant had been created. They turned to worship other gods, they were led astray by the people around them, and they stopped worshipping God and keeping his commandments. When Israel turned away, God brought armies or famines to discipline his people and call them back, and he was always faithful. He never left the midst of his people in spite of their unfaithfulness.

When the people repent and turn to God, he promises to repay them for the years the locusts ate. In spite of the people’s failures, God sends his merciful gifts. The people, not God, are guilty for the famine. It is the people’s unfaithfulness which has required God to use the locusts to bring them back. Still, God repays Israel in abundance. God says that he is sending grain, new wine, and olive oil to satisfy the people. The threshing floors which were empty during the famine will be filled and the presses will overflow with oil and wine, and the people will praise God. They will know that God is present with his people and that there is no other god.

God continually has to teach and train his people to love and serve only the Lord. Joel’s proclamation that the people will know that God is “in Israel, that [he] is the Lord your God, and that there is no other” (vs27) hearkens back to God’s redemption of Israel in the Exodus. The Exodus is the defining event in Israel’s history, and it reveals God’s presence to both Israel and Egypt alike.

When God promised that he would deliver Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, he proclaimed, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” (Ex 6:6c-7)

God also sent Moses to Pharaoh, declaring that the Egyptians will know that the Lord is God when he performs signs and wonders in their midst. (Ex 7:5) Even though the Israelites had been living and worshipping God in Egypt for generations, the Egyptians did not recognize the Lord as God. Ten times God manifest his power in Egypt, by turning the waters to blood, bringing forth frogs, gnats, and flies, and finally the death of the firstborn children. Only through the 10 signs did the Egyptians recognize the authority of the Lord.

It seems that even hundreds of years of God’s presence in Israel had not taught them to trust only God, but God promises that after the terrible day of the Lord, his people will know that the Lord is their God and they will never again be put to shame. Israel will finally worship and trust God alone for their strength and salvation. They will know both the power of his armies and the majesty of his gracious provisions.

As Israel learns to trust God alone forever, they will become like the prophets in Israel. “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (v28-29) Joel, and the other true prophets in Israel, were the men and women who served God even when the rest of Israel was worshipping other Gods. They listened to God’s voice and spoke his words to the people to call them back from their idolatry. The prophets proclaimed both God’s judgment on and God’s restoration of Israel. They knew the Lord and walked with him. God’s Spirit was poured out on the prophets, speaking God’s word to them. God knew his prophets and his prophets knew him.

God’s promise to send his Spirit on all people, both male and female, young and old, rich and poor, means that God’s people will hear his voice. They will follow him and speak his word to the rest of the world. Even when others turn away from God, his people will worship him faithfully.

In that day, God says that he will perform wonders in the heavens and on earth, “blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The world as we assume it is, the natural laws which science teaches to our children, become void in the hands of the creator. God’s wonders vividly display his power and majesty for all to see. The wonders are more evidence to convince us that the Lord is our God and there is no other.

And if we doubted that these are signs to us, we can be reassured by their parallels in the Exodus account. The first sign God performed in Egypt was turning all of the waters to blood. Normally clean drinking water and abundant water for crops became undrinkable and toxic blood. In the last sign before the Passover, God turned the skies dark for three days. None of the Egyptians were able to see or move about while the sun was darkened. And the fire and billows of smoke are reminders of the Passover when the people slaughtered a lamb and roasted it over the fire. While the fire also displays God’s presence among his people: when the Egyptians chased the Israelites out of Egypt, God appeared in pillar of fire between them, so Israel could safely cross the desert.

Joel proclaims the word of the Lord as the anticipation of future events where God’s people will finally trust him alone, but the New Testament proclaims the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. At the crucifixion, the skies turned dark from noon until 3:00 in the afternoon, and on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Both men and women proclaimed the arrival of the kingdom of God and called Israel and Rome to serve Christ as their Lord. They proclaimed his resurrection and recounted his teachings and miracles.

We have seen the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and we can rest in the promise that we will never again be put to shame. Though the world tries to silence and shame the church by killing her prophets, their deaths are witnesses to the world of God’s presence in the midst of his church. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tells us from prison, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (4:6-8) Paul has faithfully served God and proclaimed the resurrected Jesus Christ to the world. He knows that his death will not put him to shame put will be a further witness to the majesty of God. And we who faithfully follow in Paul’s footsteps in following Christ and proclaiming the power of his resurrection will also declare that we have fought the good fight, we have finished the race, we have kept the faith. Praise be to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Foretaste of the Kingdom

May 27, 2007. Pentecost Sunday. Global Day of Prayer. Glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

Pentecost was a reversal of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The people built a tower to the heavens to make a name for themselves, and God confused their language. Then he scattered them throughout the whole earth.

We too have been so scattered. Tribes fight against tribes (Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia); nations fight against nations (USA, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan). We have let the slightest differences divide us in radical ways, so we kill each other instead of living in unity. Unfortunately this is true of the church as well. We refuse to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, so my sister Thera cannot partake of the Eucharist with her Catholic students. My Orthodox brother Chris cannot celebrate Easter with his classmates. (And yes, my decision to use the words "sister" and "brother" was intentional.)

In the midst of daily division, the Global Day of Prayer was a brief sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. This event began as a result of a vision given to a man in South Africa. Beginning in his hometown, flaming arrows spread out into the rest of South Africa. From South Africa, flaming arrows spread to all of Africa, and from Africa, the arrows spread to the entire world. He gathered Christians in his city to pray, and the season of prayer and blessing, spread throughout the globe. On Pentecost Sunday, Christians gather to pray, in 205 countries and many languages. This is not just one more gathering of Christians who already think alike. It pushes our boundaries.

In Santa Barbara, CA, the Evangelical Prayer Breakfast organizes the logistics, and we are pushed to greater unity. As the pastors discuss which churches to invite, they are asked to view other denominations in full unity. Calvary Chapel is asked to accept the Catholic churches as Christians; a difficult task in view of their history. The United Methodists are asked to limit the service to those who confess Christ; a position contrary to their commitment to "open doors." The Catholics and Orthodox are asked to view the Protestants as members of the one body of Christ, a position difficult for those who believe that Protestants are in broken communion with the one true church. The Free Methodists are asked to be patient with their brothers and sisters who have difficulty recognizing the faith of the other groups. Somehow, though, the Global Day of Prayer service happens every year. The various churches commit their time, their people, and their buildings. They open their doors for Christians from all over the city to come and pray 24/7 for the week before Pentecost. Finally, they gather at the Sunken Gardens to praise God and pray.

This global gathering is a visible sign of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is a foretaste of what we will experience when Christ returns. By now the saying has become almost cliche: "When we arrive in heaven, we will find many we did not expect, and we will be missing some of those whom we did expect." The Global Day of Prayer enacts this saying; we would not expect our brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel and the Catholic Church to have a part in the same service, "non-Christians" from their position. Their very presence in the service indicates an acceptance of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christianity by all involved, an acceptance that those whom we think are outside of God's grace may in fact be a part of his body.

Likewise, the divisions between tribes and languages becomes a mark of unity instead of one of division. When we break into small groups to pray, the circles include latinos, Asians, Caucasians, Africans, and Middle Easterners together, praying in their native languages. No one tells us to break into "diverse" groups; it is natural. Everyone is present to pray, and we are all praying to the one God with a united heart. Pastors from different ethnic churches lead us in prayer or translate for others. Languages and cultures are too weak to break the bond of Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst overcomes our divisions because we are all obedient to the same One who has called us to follow our Savior alone.

Global Day of Prayer is true Pentecost, a time when those of all tribes, tongues, and nations gather together, pray the same prayer, and work as one body to seek God's face. We seek not as in Babel, to make a name for ourselves, but as the body of Christ, servants of the God who as taught us to seek him and to live as the Church. We are a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God.

Phil 3:4b-14 Sacrifice to Obtain the Resurrection of the Dead

The Christian Church is quite an odd gather of people. Have you ever stopped to think about what it is that we proclaim? 2000 years ago, in an obscure town in a tiny, out of the way province of the Roman Empire, a baby was born in a barn to a teenage mother. He was Jewish. A member of a religion that makes up only ¼ of 1% of the world’s population. After his birth, this baby named Jesus faded into obscurity for thirty years before reappearing at the Jordan River in Israel. He traveled around teaching crowds of people, upset almost every political and religious leader of the day, and three years after he appeared at the Jordan, he was crucified by the Roman government. 2000 years later, the church is still celebrating a failed revolutionary. We wear crosses around our necks; crosses, a sign of execution, much like wearing a golden gallows on a chain. We proclaim that we are brothers and sisters, and we eat the body and blood of Christ. Yes, the church is an odd gathering of people.

But I left something out. Did you catch it? I left out the resurrection. Isaiah proclaims that God is doing something new. Streams of water are springing up in the wilderness. The people God has chosen will proclaim His name. The Pharisee who seeks to destroy the church of God becomes God’s most powerful evangelist. And everything that we thought we understood is thrown into chaos.

Paul had his life figured out. He was the perfect Jew. His family had followed the Torah and had him circumcised when he was 8 days old. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin, an educated man who had become a Pharisee, a teacher of the Jewish law. And when this strange group of people called Christians started proclaiming that Jesus was God, Paul was sure they were committing blasphemy. He traveled around, enforcing the law and persecuting the church. A zealous Paul was stoning Christian leaders in obedience to the law.

Then Paul met Christ. This zealous Jew was caught up by the Holy Spirit and the grace of God into the life of Christ, and he cast aside everything which used to be important. Can you heart the theme reverberating through his letter? He “puts no confidence in the flesh,” whatever were gains, he now considers losses,” and he considers all his former glories as garbage. Paul is now a man whose life seems backwards. What has happened?

Christ took hold of Paul just like he had taken hold of those other crazy Christians. We live in a world tormented by the effects of the Fall. We are captive to sin and death, and our bodies are weak, frail, and decaying. We are in bondage to sin, death, and the devil. From the moment we are born, we are dying. Our time here is short, and we face diseases and wars. There is no guarantee that we will even wake up tomorrow. And lest we think that we are not in bondage to evil, look at the morning paper. Catholics kill Protestants in Ireland. The whole world, including the church, stands by as thousands are killed in Sudan. Two brothers fight over who gets to keep the house they inherited. We are in bondage to other forces.

Paul’s former life was a part of this captivity. He followed the law to try to curb the sinful nature, but the law could not deliver him from bondage. He was from Israel, the people of God, but even Israel needed to be set free from these evil forces. This is why Christ Jesus took hold of Paul. The Holy Spirit brought Paul into the life of Christ. Paul participated in the faithfulness of Christ and is righteous in Christ. He participates in Christ’s sufferings to obtain the resurrection of the dead and the defeat of the powers of sin and death. Paul has given up a lot, but life in Christ set him free.

We seek freedom as well. We want liberation from the decay and death of our bodies. We want victory over the power of sin. We know this desire every time a new request comes across the prayer chain, and every time we celebrate the life and passing of a brother or sister. We groan in anticipation of the perfecting of our bodies, and we celebrate when our brothers and sisters pass on because they have won the prize which they were seeking: the resurrection of their bodies. That liberation and victory came at a price for Paul. He participated in the sufferings of Christ and joined in his crucifixion. He received liberation, but he had to die first. After all, without death, there is no resurrection.

Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday we will celebrate the entry into Jerusalem and Christ’s proclamation as King. In a week and a half, we will mourn at the foot of the cross as we witness again the crucifixion, and in two weeks, we will rejoice in the resurrection. Today, we prepare for Easter.

What might we need to die to in order to be set free? Paul set aside his status. He had authority as a teacher, even if it was only authority over a small number of Jews. Maybe for us it is the authority of being a boss at work or of being the head of our extended families. | Paul counted as loss the boundary markers of his society. Here, maybe it is being Black or being White, having an education or having none, being a confederate or being a Yankee, having money or being poor. Paul gave up his special status in the people of God. Being a Hebrew was nothing compared to being brought into the life of Christ. For us, does being Methodist compare with Christ? Does being a member of a Christian family take the place of life in Christ?

As we go to God in silent prayer now, remember that Paul gave up persecuting the church and was transformed into a powerful missionary. What you may have to give up to attain the resurrection of the dead? What new thing might God do with you as you are taken hold of by Christ?

Christ the King Sunday - John 18:33-37

John 18:33-37

³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

³⁴ "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

³⁵ "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

³⁶ Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."

³⁷ "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

This morning is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday after Pentecost and before Advent. It seems to me that this is a particularly perfect time of year for it. We have been living in the memory of Pentecost in the age of the church, the time when the Spirit has descended and the church goes out into the world. But we have not yet arrived at Advent. We are not yet awaiting the birth of the infant king born in a manger. It also seems like an exceptionally perfect Sunday because it challenges us to see Jesus as King before Advent, in a time when we may not normally see him that way. In my experience, we tend to think of Jesus as quite tame. We picture him as the silent baby of Away in a Manger and the gentle peasant wandering around and speaking to groups of people quietly gathered on the hillside eating lunch. We like to forget that Jesus is our King who can give us orders at any time, who can ask us to die for his glory, and who can call us up for service in his army at a moment’s notice. We like to place Jesus in a box on a shelf and pull him out on Sundays, at meal times, and when we need him. Christ the King Sunday refuses to let us brush Christ aside.

If Christ is our king, then it is wise for us to learn about his kingdom by looking at his life. In our passage from John, Jesus said that he came to testify to the truth. There are many messages claiming to be truth in our lives. Movies teach girls that relationships have fairy tale endings where “happily ever after” is the easy result of meeting Prince Charming. Our fascination with sports teaches our boys that athletic ability is more important than honesty, integrity, intelligence, and compassion. Our advertisements proclaim the image that women must be skinny, flawless, and young. Our music teaches that real men are strong, unemotional, and better than women. The world claims to be bringing us the truth every time we open our eyes, but none of its truths were proclaimed by Christ. Instead, he proclaimed a truth and a kingdom that are not of this world.

Jesus showed us his kingdom, and he brought us, the church, into it. In verse 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” His servants would fight. Servants. People under his authority. His servants were his followers, those who learned from him and obeyed him. Today we, the church, are those servants. As his servants, we learn from the master how to live in his kingdom.

Jesus’ life was constantly engaged with sin and evil in the world. He was reversing the consequences of the Fall by Adam and Eve. He taught that the poor would inherit the kingdom of God, and he traveled with no place to lay his head. He overturned the divisions between Israel and Samaria, Jew and Gentile. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and conquered demons. Throughout his ministry, the battles were for more than earthly possessions and power. From the temptation in the wilderness to the cross, Jesus was engaged in a spiritual war. And as his servants, Jesus has brought us into the battle on his side. We have plenty of demons to fight today, and plenty of the continuing effects of the Fall. This morning, we will look at four contemporary demons and what it might mean to be fighting against them.

At this time of year, the demon of poverty is one we cannot forget. We are surrounded by opportunities for giving, but such a systematic injustice requires more than a few coins dropped in a bucket or a gift purchased for a poor child. This battle requires faithful stewardship of our resources, living modestly so others can survive. It requires us to go against the American dream of constantly accumulating money and possessions and to follow the disciples in sharing the material blessings we have been given. It means following Jesus’ call to give to our brothers and sisters sacrificially instead of out of our abundance. The church has joined our King in this battle in many different ways – the angel trees in our hallways and last week’s food drive for the soup kitchen - and all of them are necessary. But I want to provide a different example this morning. There is a group of people in Durham who live at the Rutba House in Walltown, a poor and neglected neighborhood. Every evening they sit down at a common table and their door is open to all. People from the neighborhood with little to eat arrive next to the homeless, who are given a bed in addition to the meal. The housemates grow a variety of foods in their backyard, so they can have more to offer their guests. This group of people offers hope, compassion, advice, and love to each person who walks through their door, in addition to basic necessities, and through their ministry they are fighting the against the demon of poverty.

The second demon that I want to look at this morning is racism. In Jesus’ day, there was a large barrier between Jews and Gentiles. They could not share meals because the Jews ate different foods and had to remain ritually pure. They could not touch each other because a Jew could become unclean if he only touched a person who had touched something that was unclean. Jesus tore down these barriers. He stopped to talk with the Samaritan at the well. He ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners. And he gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, showing that caring for a fellow human is more important than remaining ritually pure. For Paul, the church was the one place in Roman society where these barriers were broken down. He tells us that there is no longer Jew or Greek for those who are in Christ Jesus. The racial distinctions were dissolved. Unfortunately we have not learned this lesson very well. Our churches tend to be the most racially segregated part of society. We have White churches and Black churches. Latino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Greek, and Swiss churches. Instead of breaking down social lines, we have made them worse. Instead of sharing a common table, we can still walk into restaurants where our Black brothers and sisters cannot get service. Instead of loving our neighbors and our brothers and sisters across national boundaries, we ostracize the Hispanics in this country, assuming that all are illegal residents, that none contribute to American society, and that they do not deserve compassion, understanding, and acceptance as fellow Christians. Race is still a big problem in this country, and one of the groups who is fighting this demon is called Ubuntu. They meet once a month and share a table, and they wrestle with racism. They hear each other’s stories, from all sides, and they learn to give compassion to those who are different than themselves. They learn about each others’ traditions, and they celebrate them together. They are engaging in the battle.

The third demon is violence. I don’t have to prove to you that this is a problem. You need only to pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV. The news is of bombings, murders, and attacks. There are wars being fought all over the world, and neighbors are killing each other. But the goal of the church is reconciliation not war. It is to bring people into loving relationship with the Living God and one another. After all, the two greatest commandments are to love God and one another. After all, the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But wrestling this demon is hard. Our justice system serves its purpose, but it obviously does not stop violence. Our military does its job, but even it cannot police the world. The church must find a different way. I think that way is love and forgiveness in truth. There is a pastor I know who lives in South-Central Los Angeles. This is an area with high crime and high poverty, but he is the pastor of a South-Central LA church, so he lives in South-Central LA. Two years ago, his high school aged son and the daughter of a fellow pastor were sitting on his front porch talking when a car pulled up and a young man got out. The new gang initiations require you to shoot someone at close range, so this young man pulled out a gun, walked into the porch and shot the young man and young woman. The lady died, and the young man spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. But these pastors are still in South-Central LA. They know that the violence will only increase if the church leaves the city. Instead they need to do God’s work of bringing the message of peace and forgiveness to these lost teenagers who have found belonging in no where but these gangs. These pastors are using the power of conversion to wrestle the demon of violence.

The last demon is death, and it is also fought with conversion, but also with hope. We read many names on our prayer list each week. Sickness and grief surrounds us, but we do have hope. When we were baptized, we died with Christ, and we were also raised with him. So we have entered into his new life which will never end. For us, death is not the end of the story but only another step in the journey of our relationship with God. It is our hope in the resurrection which defeats the demon of death.

I want to close this morning by reading today’s appointed lesson from Revelation because it is in Christ’s return that his kingship will be realized fully and the battles with these demons will be brought to an end. Christ will reign over all of creation when he comes again in all of his glory, and until that day, we will continue to fight in our king’s army. So hear now the hope of the coming kingdom from Revelation, chapter 1, verses 4-8.

“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits ^[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

7 "Look, he is coming with the clouds," ^[b]
and "every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him";
and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." ^[c] So shall it be! Amen.

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Our King is coming soon. Amen.