Sunday
10/06/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Hold to the standard of sound
teaching”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 137
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Gospel Lesson: Luke
17:5-10
Welcome again
everyone, on this our World Communion Sunday and on this the Seventeenth Sunday
after Pentecost. On this our World Communion Sunday, we join with brothers and
sisters in Christ all over the world in celebrating Holy Communion, the
Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper together.
Even though we are in many different countries, even though
we worship in many different languages, and even though we are from many
Christian denominations, today on this World Communion Sunday, we celebrate
communion together as Christians.
So what is World Communion Sunday, and why do we celebrate
it every year? Here is explanation of what World Communion Sunday is:
“World Communion Sunday is a celebration observed by
several Christian denominations, taking place on
the first Sunday of every October, that promotes Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation.
It focuses on an observance of the eucharist.
The tradition was begun in 1933 by Hugh Thomson Kerr who ministered in
the Shadyside Presbyterian Church”.
“It was
then adopted throughout the US Presbyterian Church in
1936 and subsequently spread to other denominations. In 1940, the Federal Council of Churches (now
the National Council of Churches), led
by Jesse Moren Bader, endorsed World Communion
Sunday and began to promote it to Christian churches worldwide” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Communion_Sunday).
As part of this Sunday of Christian unity, that we share
the Sacrament of Holy Communion together, we also have a special giving
opportunity throughout the whole United Methodist Church denomination. We call
this special giving Sunday, “UMC World
Communion Sunday.” According to
www.UMCgiving.org this special United Methodist Church giving Sunday began like
this:
“According
to the 1972 Book of Discipline paragraph 163.b there shall be a World Communion
(formerly Fellowship of Suffering and Service) offering to support the division
of chaplains and ministries, Crusade Scholarships and the scholarship fund for
minority groups”.
“Around
the globe, countless gifted and qualified people face financial obstacles that
hinder them from preparing for the vocation God has given them, especially
youth and young adults. For ethnic students who will be the first generation in
their families to attend college, or for those people of color who haven’t
historically had access to resources that make higher education possible, the
road toward education has often been unwieldy”.
“What
would it look like if the church today imitated Jesus’ affirmation of the full
dignity and God-given potential of all women and men—especially those who’ve
historically been assigned to the world’s margins? On World Communion Sunday
your giving helps to provide scholarships for national and
international graduate students whom God has gifted to learn and to serve” (http://www.umcgiving.org/ministry-articles/world-communion-sunday)
So,
if you wish to give to this special giving Sunday, please indicated “UMC World Communion Sunday” on your checks, or mark your
funds the same, and then place them in a church giving envelope.
With all of this said, I want to talk this morning, on this
World Communion Sunday about what we teach. When I say teach, I mean specifically,
what do we teach others about the Christian faith? What do we teach others
about the Christian faith in the church, and in the world? We certainly can
tell people that God loves them, as God does. We can teach them that Jesus
taught us to love God and love our neighbor, as we should. Is there more to
what we should teach though? Is there significance to who Jesus Christ was and is?
Does it matter what we believe in general? I would argue that yes it does.
The Christian Church, and the spiritual power that is has
been entrusted with, has long been built upon a strong belief in the Triune
God. The God who creates, the God who saves, named Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Spirit that moves in and through us. Or we could simply say that God loves us,
and we are to love our neighbor. These are both true statements, but is this
really the whole of the Christian faith?
I talk to people periodically who tell me that they left
the church. Meaning, they no longer attend worship services and that they have
no connection to their church. Maybe they grew up there, maybe there kids were
baptized and raised there. Maybe they were married there, had great friends
there, and have been part of that church for generation. Then they just left,
and they broke a chain of church connection in their families that had existed
for years. Perhaps they didn’t leave Christianity, as far as their faith in
God, but they no longer are part of the church.
There are certainly many reasons for this, but among the
ones I hear the most often is, “I just wasn’t getting anything out of the
services anymore”? When I have pushed people who tell me these things to say
more, I often hear things like, “Well, the pastor never preaches from the
Bible”. Or I have heard, “Sometimes I sat through sermons where I heard really
nothing about Jesus”. I have also heard, “The pastor was teaching us new
teachings that I had never heard before, and they didn’t seem right”. I have
heard, “There was no more fire,” or I have heard, “The gospel wasn’t being
preached anymore.”
Over time, some of the people that I have talked with around
leaving church, have told me that they felt so spiritual starved, that they gave
up on the church. They don’t necessarily give up on God, but they do give up on
the church. Among the many reasons, as I said, that I have heard that people
give up on the church, is that I have been told that the church no longer
teaching what they once did. I heard a frustrated man tell me once, “Pastor, I
left my church after a long time, because I wanted spiritual meat, and all I
got was lettuce!”
Spiritually starved people sometimes leave the church. In
the Apostle Paul’s Second Epistle or letter to Timothy for this morning he tell
us to “Hold to the standard of sound teaching”.
Now what I am talking about this morning is not
specifically what political party you are or are not in, but I am talking about
what we are teaching as a church. Are we teaching that Jesus Christ, God’s only
son came to earth to die for our sins, and the sins of the world? Are we
teaching that Jesus lived a sinless life, gave us a blue print for how to live
and love, that he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and one day will
return to the earth in glory? Are we following the teachings of the Bible and
the Ten Commandments, or is it just God is love and love your neighbor. The God
the universe has so much more that He asked us to do. What we teach and what we
proclaim matters. It matters, because Jesus Christ is our savior, and through
him we are reconciled to a loving God. We are changed, transformed, and renewed
through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Throughout the 2,000 year history of the Christian Church,
our love for Christ, following him and his teachings as Lord, and living that
out in the world has been the bedrock of our historic faith. Due to this,
changing sound teaching into more modern teachings, I believe, is something
that is proving to be a great catastrophe in our society. Those churches, not
always, but generally speaking, shrink and close. People leave frustrated that
the Word of God isn’t being preached and taught, and they are spiritually starved.
The strength of the church is love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace, found only
in Jesus Christ. Deviating or departing from preaching Christ, living like
Christ, and seeking the holiness of Christ is something that I think can kill a
church. I know this, because I have seen it.
Let’s look again at our reading from 2 Timothy 1:1-14 for
this morning. Once again the Apostle Paul writes:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of
the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and
Christ Jesus our Lord. 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. Recalling
your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 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. For this reason I remind
you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my
hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit
of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2
Tim. 1:1-7, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul tells his young
friend Timothy that he believes in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says that he
worships God with a clear conscience, as his ancestors did. The Apostle Paul
has been changed by the love, the hope, and grace of God in Jesus Christ. So
much so, that Paul tells Timothy to rekindle and renew his faith, so that he
might love others boldly, follow Christ powerfully, and proclaim his love
fully. The Apostle Paul is saying that he has felt God’s warm and loving
presence dwelling in him, and that Jesus is his Lord. Paul believes this with
every fiber of his being, and he believes that the gospel of Jesus Christ is
the hope of the world. Paul has seen how it has changed him, and how it has
changed many. Paul tells Timothy to rekindle and renew his faith, so that this
gift of Christ might be shared with the whole world.
The Apostle then once again says:
“Do not be ashamed, then, of the
testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering
for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and
grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it
has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For
this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and
for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in
whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day
what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching
that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard
the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in
us” (2
Tim. 1:8-14, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul tells Timothy to not
be ashamed of Jesus Christ and his gospel. For the gospel of Jesus Christ is
the power of God unto salvation. Asking Christ to be your Lord, repenting and
surrendering to him, changes us. It unlock us. It frees us. In empowers us to
love God, love our neighbor, and change the world. Christ has called you, if
you have the courage to answer the call. Conversion in Christ, and knowing
Christ is the hallmark of our 2,000 year Christian faith.
Paul also tells us that God’s grace
through Jesus Christ saves us, and not works. Through faith in Christ, we are
made worthy, cleansed of our sin and unrighteousness, and are justified before
our Heavenly Father. Our guilt, our shame, and our despair is taken into the
hands of Jesus Christ.
We are broken and sinful, but
through Christ we can be made whole. Through Christ we have life, light, and
love. So powerful and transformative is this gospel, that Paul was willing to
give up his life for Christ, knowing that he would be with him for life
eternal.
The
Apostle Paul then says, as is the title of this sermon:
“Hold to the standard of sound teaching
that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2
Tim. 1:13, NRSV).
Lastly, the Apostle Paul says once
again to close this scripture for this morning:
“Guard the good treasure entrusted to you,
with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us” (2 Tim. 1:14, NRSV).
So what is the sound teaching that the
Apostle Paul tells Timothy and us to uphold? The Apostle Paul tells us that God
sent his only son Jesus Christ to earth. He sent him to love, teach, heal, and
forgive. This sinless Jesus died on a cross for our sins, and by his blood and his
stripes we are set free. All we need to do is repent of our sins and turn to
him. Jesus was buried, resurrected, ascended to heaven, and as the Book of
Revelation says will return to earth one day in glory.
The hope of a hurting and broken Sidney,
and the hope of a hurting a broken world is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul is
saying teach that, proclaim that, live that, for it is the only hope we have in
a broken and a dark world. Don’t change the truth, proclaim the truth, and
“Hold to the standard of sound teaching”.
So what is “Sound teaching”? Jesus
Christ crucified for us. Loving Christ, serving Christ, serving each other, and
living in the ways that God commands us to live.
In looking briefly at our gospel of
Luke message for this morning, Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed. Once
again, Jesus says:
“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase
our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard
seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the
sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from
plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place
at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on
your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do
you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have
done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have
done only what we ought to have done!’” (Lk. 17:5-10,
NRSV).
So, do we have faith in Christ? Do we
believe in his gospel? Do we have the courage to share it with others? In this
scripture, Jesus is telling his disciples to not try to gain more faith as a
commodity, as a possession, or something that just makes us strong. Instead, in
our simplicity of faith, in our child-like trust of God, we can take faith the
size of a mustard seed, and it can move mountains.
Essentially then, we should not seek
to become greater, but rather to become less, to become small, to become Godly.
Through being humble, through having child-like faith, and through trusting God
will have faith that can move mountains. When asked about our faith, we will
say that we don’t have that much faith, and this my friends, is why God will
use us. When we “Hold to the standard of sound teaching,” when we seek Christ,
his grace, and his love, and we put aside our own ambitions and our own understandings,
Christ will use us.
Whatever we are experiencing and
facing this day, Christ is with us. May we feel his presence, and may we share
freely and boldly with others. For in doing so, we “Hold to the standard of
sound teaching.” Amen.
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