Sunday 09/02/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “Walking your faith vs. Talking your faith”
(Growing in faith series, Part 1 of 6)
Scripture Lesson: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Gospel Lesson: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning!
This morning I am starting a series called the “Growing in faith series.” The first of six parts of this series is called “Walking your faith vs. Talking your faith.” It is certainly true that on Sunday morning we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and praise God. Yet, this is a safe place to do so isn’t it? We won’t be persecuted here. After all, this is the house of almighty God, and this is where we come to worship Him. What do we do out there in the world though? Are we as reverent out there in the world, as we are in this place? Why is it so easy to talk the faith, but not walk the faith? After all, the Apostle Paul struggled with this reality? The Apostle Paul said in his Epistle to the Romans in chapter 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” You see just like the Apostle Paul we struggle to walk the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Walking our faith is challenging at times, especially in our very individualistic culture. We seem to live in a culture sometimes that doesn’t show any caring and compassion for anyone.
What if though, we made sure as a church that our poor were taken care of? What if we made sure that our poor were clothed? What if we were able to house our poor? You see next week, I am going to be talking about why we do good works for Jesus Christ, but this week I am talking more on the large scale or holistically. What I am asking is why we need the government to take care of our poor? Why can’t we do it? This is a tough question. What if this and other churches had a surge in membership? What if these new members gave generously? What if there time, there gifts and graces, and there resources were used to build the kingdom of God in this and the surrounding communities? What if, many people went to this church, and what if we all gave generously? Would need as many government social programs? Could we take care of people better, cheaper, and more efficiently than the government? I believe we can, as the church did it for years. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that the government should not help poor, I have just seen the system we live in, and it is broken. It has become bloated and ineffective. Where are the people of God in all of this?
My concern in the modern day is that many people in this country no longer put their faith in Almighty God, but rather they put their faith in the government or the State. For many Americans, the State has become God, as many longer come to God and his church when they are in need, but they go to the State. The State will provide for them, and as a result faith according to many people is not needed. The erosion of our churches, our church memberships have all had the result of less giving and less serving. Certainly these needs in our communities are still highly evident. Who has assumed these needs in the place of God’s Church though? The Christian Church has been largely replaced I believe by the State, because for many in America, the State has become God. Many people might say “In the State we trust,” not “In God we trust.” I remember a couple of years ago learning about the YMCA. Has anyone here ever been to the YMCA? When I was youth worker for a non-profit organization I took some of my kids there all the time! We had a lot of fun, and it kept my boys out of trouble. I didn’t realize until a couple of years of ago that the YMCA means the Young Men’s Christian’s Association. Did anyone know that? When I went into a YMCA a couple of years ago though, I looked through all of their literature. This included literature on the YMCA, there programs, and etc. Yet at this particular YMCA that I visited, I couldn’t find anywhere the title the “Young Men’s Christian Association” anywhere in the literature. I was really perplexed by this. I remember a few weeks later I heard the song “YMCA” by the Village People. I am not going to be singing and dancing to this song in this sermon, just to let you know! In that song though, as many of you know the lyrics say, “You can get yourself clean, you have a good meal.”
I remember calling my step-father Mike Therio and asking him, “why do the Village people say this in the “YMCA” song? I mean I have never seen the YMCA do that.” Mike told me that the “YMCA used to do this.” In fact, he said that “they could even house you for the night, you could also eat there, and you could clean up and shower there.” I in no way want to demonize the YMCA, but I have never seen a YMCA that offers these sorts of services. The question though is why do we no longer provide these charitable services? I think there are two reasons for this. One, people don’t give like they used to, and two this function of the Young Men’s Christians Association has been assumed by the State. There are some YMCA’s that still seem to espouse a Christian image, but I personally have yet to see one myself.
Here is another example of this type of situation. Let’s look at the institution of Catholic Charities, which I greatly love and support. My good friend in Pine City, NY the Rev. Bill Vallet is the Senior Pastor of the Pennsylvania Avenue United Methodist Church. This church is right near Elmira. Many of the folks near the church have significant struggles with poverty. Through his church, they have a food pantry and a food program that literally feeds 137 families a week! This ministry literally feeds large and small families a meager diet every week of everything they need to get by! In working in conjunction with Catholic Charities and other organizations, this church literally gets pallet after pallet of food in every week. You see they feed the poor. Here is the reality though, from what I have learned, most Catholic Charities are about 60-70% funded by the government. You can check this and correct me if I am in error. Why is this funding situation the reality though? Because Christians don’t give anymore like they used to, so we have conceded this to the government or the State, as well.
We live in a country with many believers who find it unnecessary to attend church, serve the church, support the church, or be connected to the church in any way. Yet many of these very same people are angered at our rates of taxation, constant fees for everything, and restricted rights and freedoms. Yet many of these people of faith, who watch a re-run of a “Billy Graham Crusade for Christ” in there recliner on Sunday morning think they are being faithful Christians. While we might have faith, and have the salvation of Jesus, are we walking our faith? Do you think if we had lower taxes, and higher church memberships and giving, that our country would be much better off? To me know, and maybe it is just my opinion, the trend is going in the other direction.
We must continue to reach out to people and invite them to church. In fact, I would ask that everyone here this morning invite at least one person to church next Sunday. If that person enjoys the service ask them to come back, and then invite someone else! Imagine if we had many new people, and imagine if all of these new people were willing to give of their time, their gifts and talents, and their resources. Could we effectively provide for many of the needs of our people in this and the surrounding communities? We need massive government and bloated system of taxation, which clearly isn’t working? I know for some of you this is a tough topic, but the reality is there will always be people in need. The question is then, is how do we address this need? Do we continue to raise taxes, do we continue to concede more power to the State, or would we rather have strong thriving churches that provide for the needy? Imagine we had soup kitchens, several massive food pantries, housing options, and other essentials. If provided educational programs in the church to educate and train people to re-enter the work force. I know that many churches used to have these programs. I know that on some level this is to a great extent what the Adirondack Community Center is doing. The question though, is can the Christian Church take care of the people who need it?
I believe we can, as we have in the past. When we truly walk our faith, we go to church, we are actively part of the church, and serve the community. For many of us here, I am really not talking to you here this morning, this is more to challenge or grow our faiths. I am more talking to those people who are not here this morning. This is where we come in. Let’s preach the Gospel to them, invite them to church, and show them our faith in Jesus Christ! Do we believe that God and His Church can do great things? Are we willing to invite people to church and serve them?
There is a man in the church I used to attend before coming here named Ed. Ed is physically disabled and had a fence in his yard that was in bad shape. The United Methodist Men’s club became aware of this fact, and decided to go down and repair Ed’s fence. Ed as it turns out had grown up in the church, but stop going when he felt that church didn’t really do much to help people. Ed was so touched by this service to Him by our United Methodist Men’s club, that he attended our church one Sunday. The people were so kind to Him that he eventually joined the church. Ed is by no means a rich man, and by those men serving Him, he saw Jesus Christ in them. He was brought back to faith, and is now active in the church. The more we are able to serve our poor and struggling, the more we truly walk our faith. For we are living the Gospel, and showing what Jesus Christ has done for us!
You see I think that many people in the modern day feel that church doesn’t care. That the church isn’t concerned about them. The reality is we are, and we want all people in this community and surrounding communities to be transformed by Jesus Christ and work to make our communities better! The problem though is that many churches like this are small, and you brothers and sisters already do so much for God and His church. In fact, some of you probably feel burnt out at times by your very active service to the church. If some of those folks who believe yet never go to church became active in the church though, imagine what we could do. This reality has nothing to do with me, but in reality has to do with this and surrounding communities saying, “Wow that church practices what it preaches.” We then as one pastor put it once, “love people into the Kingdom of God.” The Christian Church used to provide for the poor, and I think we can do it again, do it better, and do it more efficiently than the State!
I don’t want you think that I am anti-government, but instead I am pro-God, and pro-church. I think in the modern day many live in fear in this country. We worry about losing our homes, about money, our health, the future, and etc. When someone moves into the neighborhood most people rarely great that neighbor anymore and like a good Methodist bring them a covered dish! Instead many fear and worry about who or what that new neighbor is. If people put their dependence in God and His church though, we then become a community of faith. We see the needs of others, and we give what we can. If we have food we give to those who need it, and we essentially become more of barters. This does not mean that everyone will get rich or not have to work. We have to work, because isn’t that why God created Adam for? God created him to work the garden. I think though, that no one should go hungry in this community or any community! I think the church if it were strong again could provide for our people! I mean after all what did we do years ago? You might not have been rich, but likely had food, some clothes, and usually a roof over your head. You had the basics. I think a strong Christian Church community could provide these basics, and I think we could do it better than the State!
We must as our scripture reading says from the Song of Solomon this morning view the beauty of God coming! We must trust the Lord, and we must see His greatness! We must believe, and “Walk by faith, not by sight.” We must walk our faith, by encouraging and sharing our faith with others. We must show people why we live the Gospel. Why we serve the Lord! In the Gospel reading today Jesus challenges the Pharisees on eating with “defiled” or unclean hands. You see Jesus ate with sinners, fed the 5,000, and promised us our daily bread. We are not promised great wealth, a mansion, and 5 cars. Rather we promised our daily bread, God’s grace, fellowship, and Lord willing a roof over our head. I often wonder brothers and sisters what would happen if our churches were filled and all of these new people gave generously? Would we have enough to care for our people? Could God’s church accomplish this goal? I believe it can. I believe our communities would once again be strong and more self-reliant.
I want to close this morning with a story about walking our faith. This story was told to me in my seminary summer class by our teacher. Dr. Len Erb. Dr. Erb has devoted his whole life to Jesus Christ and serving the poor. We were debating in class one night in June on how to best serve the poor, help the poor improve, get the poor to work, and to solve our problem of people being dependent of the government. Dr. Erb said something remarkable in this debate. He said, as some students were saying we don’t have enough social spending, while others were saying to cut almost social spending, he said, “what about God’s church.” I said what do you mean Dr. Erb? He smiled as said, “what about God’s church?” I said, “Look Dr. Erb I am sure all of us in this country would like to greatly reduce social spending, but we will always have poverty. If we don’t give people the basics, then are prisons will continue grow bigger and bigger. It is an unfixable problem.” Dr. Erb then smiled and said again, “What about the church Paul?” I said Dr. Erb, “most of our churches are small and are struggling, and no offense sir, but what do you mean our churches?” He said, “Paul our churches can provide for the welfare of our poor.” I said to Dr. Erb, and I can’t believe I said this, “No offense sir, but how would you know?” This is bad thing to say to man who has been in ministry for over 40-years! What he then said completely blew my mind. He said, “Paul my wife and I raised three children in inner-city Syracuse serving the poor there for 30-years.” He then said, “I have seen the church serve the poor, seen people be changed in Christ. I have also seen the government time and time again come in and make a terrible mess of things.” He then said, “Paul why can’t we walk our faith, and put our trust in God and His church again? Can’t we provide for our own people?”
Well as you can imagine, I ate a large helping of humble pie that night! I know these things might not be as simple as I am saying to you here this morning, but I pray for revival! I pray that we the people of God serve our poor and needy in the name of God and His church, versus a secular State. Ask yourselves as you go throughout your week “How I can I walk my faith better this week?” I would also challenge you this week to invite one person to church next Sunday. Next Sunday I will be talking about why specifically we do good works for God. Be blessed brothers and sisters, for He is risen! Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment