Sunday 05/16/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “What Do We Do Now Church?”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 47
New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23
Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:44-53
For some of us, or maybe many of us,
we had that family member or that friend that tied our family or our group together.
That person that we rallied around at holidays, dinners, and events. This
person was the glue that held the family or the group together. Then suddenly,
or maybe after an illness, this person died or moved away.
Maybe for awhile your group of friends
stayed connected, or your family members kept meeting. Soon though, the group
of friends or the family gatherings seemed to begin to break down. Have any of
you ever experience anything like this before in your life? A person, whether family
or friend was at the very center of the group, and when they died, or perhaps
moved, that group collapsed?
When a group identity is so tied to
one person that without that one person being physically present, the group
collapses, and this is not a good thing. Sometimes businesses, churches, clubs,
and organizations quickly decline when that centralizing strong leader leaves.
When that person died, retires, or moves, the organization is never the same
again. Have any of you ever worked somewhere, been part of church, or been part
of organization that suffered after the centralizing leader was gone?
It is interesting how this reality
happens sometimes and does not happen in other times. Sometimes that
centralizing friend of family member dies or moves, and the group comes
together. Out of that group new leaders and new strength emerges, and sometimes
when the leader is gone, so is the group. Another way to put it is this, do we
have strength on our own, or is our strength connected solely to the physical
presence of another leader? Meaning, we are strong and capable, but so long as
the centralizing leader or family member is there in the flesh?
Maybe it was your mother, your
grandmother, your father, your grandfather, or one of your old bosses. When that
person was gone, you were lost, and you felt your leadership and your strength diminish.
This morning is not only the Seventh
Sunday of Easter, but it is also Ascension Sunday. On Thursday of this past
week, the church celebrated Ascension Day, as we celebrated Jesus Ascending
into heaven. Jesus Ascends into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the
Father, until he returns to earth in glory. Since we do not often have church
on Thursday though, some people call this Sunday Ascension Sunday. Essentially,
we are celebrating the Ascension of Christ today.
After Jesus is Ascended in our gospel of Luke
reading for this morning, we hear again the last verse of this gospel reading, and
the last verse of the gospel of Luke itself, that says:
“And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Lk. 24:53, NRSV).
So,
Jesus, that centralizing person that kept the group together is now physically and
bodily gone. Jesus was physically dead in the tomb from Good Friday to Easter
Sunday. When he was resurrected, his disciples and hundreds of others saw him resurrected,
and this morning was the last appearance of the resurrected Christ.
I
have also wondered before, why did the gospel of Luke end once again with:
“And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Lk. 24:53, NRSV)?
Was it because the Ascension
of Jesus into heaven that the disciples just witnessed was miraculous and powerful?
Jesus tells his disciples that they do not fully understand what is going on
just yet, but when the Advocate or the Holy Spirit shows up, Jesus said, then they
will fully grasp Jesus, his gospel, and everything else that he taught them.
This day in the life of church, Pentecost Sunday, is next Sunday. Next Sunday,
on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will show up, and the disciples will
be filled, fully equipped, and ready to go forward with the church. In next Sunday
being the birthday of the Christian Church, the disciples, next Sunday, on the day
of Pentecost will go forth teaching the gospel that Jesus taught and gave them.
So, wear read, to symbolize the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of the
blood of Jesus Christ.
To
be fair, the disciples are certainly doing better today than they did on Good
Friday, because when Jesus was crucified, all but one of the disciples
scattered and hid. This morning though, the disciples are feeling good after
Jesus Ascended into heaven, yet they now know that the earthly work of the
church now rests on their shoulders. Even though our gospel lesson ends for this
morning with the disciples excited and praising, I can imagine that at times they
really missed Jesus being with them physically and bodily. Jesus is always with
us spiritually if we but call upon him, but there is a difference between
someone being with you spiritually and physically or bodily in person. I would
also argue that there is difference between sitting in church with your friends
and brothers and sisters in Christ physically and bodily, versus watching the worship
service on a screen.
Strong
leaders have gifts, graces, and a calling to unite a group of people together,
but strong leaders should also be training the group to be leaders themselves.
Jesus effectively trained and equipped his disciples, because after the day of
Pentecost next Sunday, his disciples do not scatter, but instead they go forth
preaching the gospel and building the church.
If
you have or had that strong uniting family member, friend, pastor, or boss, how
come if something happens to them, then the whole thing just become unraveled?
As a pastor part of my role is to discover, to develop, and to deploy Christ following
transformational leaders. Churches for example, like to hire a pastor as the
leader, but in turn, part of a pastor’s duty is to train leaders. Churches like
this, should be strong not simply based on the pastor or the priest, but because
of the strength and the witness of the disciples within the church. After Jesus
ascended into heaven, within no time his disciples turned into incredible leaders
in the early church.
Jesus
Ascends when he does, in part I believe, because he knew that his disciples
were ready to lead. We have leaders in the church that have and continue to
emerge. You do not have to wait for me to tell you to lead, as you can lead
whenever you want. The strength of the church has always been centered in and around
Christ, but Christ has called us all to do and to carry out the work of the
church. Other pastors, leaders, bishops, and teachers have helped equip me to
be more like our ultimate leader Jesus Christ. I this way, I am called in part
to do the same in developing leaders.
In
our reading from Psalm 47 for this morning again, it says in 47:8 once again:
“8 God
is king over the nations; God sits on his
holy throne.” (Ps. 47:8, NRSV)
Jesus Ascends, it is exciting, but
maybe at times a little scary to. For those of us that started with a bike with
training wheels, it might have been a little scary when the training wheels
came off. Yet, we made it, and now we can teach others to do the same. This is
what it means to be part of an unbroken chain of Christians that have existed
for 2,000 years. For we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we stand in a
line of heroes. This is the faith of our ancestors, the saving grace of Jesus
Christ, and the power of God.
In the reading from the Book of Ephesians
for this morning, it says once again in 1:15-17:
“15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,” (Eph. 1:15-17, NRSV).
In this scripture, the Apostle Paul is telling the church
in Ephesus, where likely none of them ever meet Jesus in the flesh on earth,
that he has heard that they have faith in Christ. The Apostle Paul who also did
not know Jesus during his earthly ministry, believes in Jesus, and so does the
church in Ephesus. They were told the good news of Jesus Christ, and they came
to believe through the power of the Holy Spirit. They surrendered to Jesus,
knowing that he was with them spiritually. There faith was not rooted in ever walking
with Jesus physically and bodily during his three-year ministry on earth, but rather
experiencing Jesus, learning about Jesus, and accepting him through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
I have never met Jesus Christ physically or bodily on earth.
I know him and experience him spiritually though, I feel his presence, and I
grow closer to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The eternal leader of
the Christian Church and the whole world, Jesus Christ has not been on earth
physically or bodily for almost two-thousand years. While he will return one day
in glory physically and bodily, we can still know him, and we can still serve
him each and every day.
Jesus’ original twelve disciples had the luxury and the privilege
to walk with him physically and bodily for three years. They heard what he
said, they saw what he did, and they knew that his tomb was empty on Easter
morning. Further, these original 12-disciples saw Jesus after his resurrection,
and they saw him again this morning, before he Ascended into heaven. These disciples
will then go on to build the Christian Church upon Jesus Christ, the teachings
of Jesus Christ, and upon the hope of Jesus Christ. Nearly two-thousand years
later we are products this unbroken chain in Jesus Christ.
Let us look once again at our gospel of Luke reading for
this morning. Once again, Jesus says in our gospel of Luke reading:
“44 Then he said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that
everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms
must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the
scriptures, 46 and
he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah
is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses
of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father
promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from
on high.” (Lk.
24:44-49, NRSV).
Jesus
saying being “clothed with power from on high,” or being filled with the Holy Spirit,
will happen next Sunday on Pentecost. Jesus of course, before he Ascends into
heaven reminds the disciples once again, exactly who he is. He reminds them that
he was prophesized, that he died for our sins, that he rose again, and that we
are to proclaim the good news of his gospel far and wide. This gospel, Jesus
Christ himself is the hope of the world, and we are called to live and preach
that always and everywhere. Nearly two-thousand years later, the Christian
faith is the largest faith in the world.
In
recent decades however, the Christian Church in the United States, Canada, and
much of Western Europe has been in steep decline. So many churches in part rely
on strong and centralizing pastors or priests to make their church or their
faith groups strong. In fact, some of these churches or faith groups think their
success or their failure hinges on their pastor or priest.
“If
only we could get back pastor so and so back,” some might say. Yet, our role,
my role when I was lay person before becoming a pastor, was to be a leader in the
church. I was called to live and preach the gospel. You see, the strength in the
church is primarily in Jesus Christ, but the strength that we draw from him, is
strength for us all. The witness and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ
rests not solely in the pastor or the priest, but in all of us. When we all embrace
our gifts, our graces, and take the leadership that we are all called to have through
Christ in the church, then maybe, just maybe, if we lose a centralizing leader
then we can say what the last verse of Luke says. Once again, Luke 24:53 says:
“And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Lk. 24:53, NRSV).
The strength of the Christian Church, and of churches like this one, rest not solely in just who is behind the pulpit, but in all of you, through Jesus Christ. You are all witness to the power and the love of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is your church, and the strength of this church lies in the power of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Beyond this, the power of this church lies in you, and I am here, in part, to discover, develop, and deploy Christ following transformational leaders. I am a coach, a teacher, a shepherd, a preacher, and an administrator, but all of you are the church. So as Jesus Ascends, the question that I asked regarding our gospel of Luke reading for this morning is, “What Do We Do Now Church?” Amen.
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