Sidney UMC - Second Sunday of Advent - 12/05/21 - Sermon - “What's The Problem With Jesus?" ("A Real Advent and A Real Christmas" Series: Part 2 of 5)

                                Sunday 12/05/21 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:                “What’s The Problem With Jesus?”                          (“A Real Advent and A Real Christmas!” Series: Part 2 of 5)       

Old Testament Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4                                     

New Testament Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11

Gospel Lesson: Luke 3:1-6

          So, in preparing for this the second installment of this sermon series called “A Real Advent and A Real Christmas,” I wanted to compare and contrast Jesus Christ with the Christian Church. Well, what do I mean by this? I mean comparing Jesus, our Lord, with the institution, the physical buildings, and ingathering of God’s people into worshipping congregations like this. Last Sunday, in fact, I talked about Jesus’ coming birth on Christmas, his invitation to be in our hearts every day, and his second coming to earth one day.

          The seasons of Advent and Christmas are all about Jesus. In fact, the word Christmas comes from the combination of “Christ’s Mass.” In some Christian denominations and traditions, the worship services are called “Masses.” The name “Christmas” means then the worship of Christ, or a service of worship for Christ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas). Advent and Christmas, therefore, are about Jesus, the prophets foretelling his birth, his life, his teachings, his miracles, his death on cross, his resurrection, and his return to earth one day.

          With all of this said, my sermon title for this morning is called, “What’s The Problem With Jesus?” The reason that I chose this sermon title is that I have met many people who love Jesus, believe in Jesus, and follow Jesus’ teachings, yet they do not go to church. Not only do some of these folks not go to church, but they also want nothing to do with the church. Why is this? Well, an event or a series of events revealed to this person or persons that the church or churches they were going to were not like Jesus. They began attending church to learn about and to be more like Jesus, yet some of the people in the church seemed nothing at all like Jesus. Sometimes this has also even been the pastor or the priest that was guilty of this.

          Some of these people even lost faith in Christ altogether, and many still love Jesus, they just do not go to church. This means friends that in Sidney we do have some atheists and agnostics, but we have more people who love Jesus, but who do not love the church. In fact, a Barna study that was conducted in November of 2016, and the whole study was published in March, 2017. It said this:

“39-percent of men love Jesus, but not the church. 61-percent of women love Jesus, but not the church” (https://www.barna.com/research/meet-love-jesus-not-church/).

          This means that we have many people in Sidney and near and far that love Jesus but want nothing to do with the church. In my 10-years of ministry, I have had an ongoing ministry that I did not plan for or even know that I would have when I entered ministry. I call this ministry the “wounded sheep” ministry. It is not an official ministry, but it is one where people who have been wounded by the church return to the church. People that love God, love Jesus, but left the church. Sometimes when I have started as the new pastor of a church, a new person begins coming to the church. What I would soon find out sometimes though, is that this was not a new person at all. Instead, a  “wounded sheep” had returned. Sometimes they had not been to the church in 20-30 years!

          There are also people in Sidney and near and far that are what is called “Spiritual, but not religious.” They believe something about something. Many of these people want to believe in Jesus, but before they are “all in” they need to really see the greatness of Jesus. Since the local church is so often the front lines of discipleship, of preaching and living the gospel of Jesus Christ, and loving others, what they see, what they hear, and what they experience of us, sometimes shapes their opinion of who Jesus is. After all, if we are his followers, if we are the church, then these people can connect to Christ through the church.

          There are also Atheists who reject God, and Agnostics who are undecided, but all of which need Jesus whether or not they realize it. All this said then, the problem over the last two-thousand years of the Christian Church has never been Jesus, it has always been the church. When we fail to live, love, and care like Jesus, do not be shocked when we have believers who do not come to church. Or as I heard pastor say jokingly once, “they attend the Bedside Baptist Church, with Rev. Sheets.”

          This means then, as my sermon series is titled, we can have “A Real Advent and A Real Christmas” even during COVID. Why? The reason is that people’s yearning for hope, for peace, for love, and for joy has not gone away. People’s need for Christ and a great community of faith like this has not gone away. As Christians we are the bearers of life, light, and love. Or as pastor I heard once said, “you might be the only bible that someone ever reads.”

          The great liberator of the country of India from the British Empire, Mahatma Gandhi, commented on the Christian faith of the British and the British soldiers. This what he said:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/22155-i-like-your-christ-i-do-not-like-your-christians).

            So as Christians, as the church, should we be filled with shame and guilt? No. Instead we should be filled with the love and the hope of Jesus Christ. For most Christian Churches in fact, one of the biggest evangelistic days of the year is Christmas Eve. Often many more people come to church, and some of them whether they realize or not are coming and searching for something. So as my sermon title says, “What’s The Problem With Jesus?” Nothing.

          This reality is my friends, COVID-19 Pandemic, or no pandemic we can still have “A Real Advent and A Real Christmas”. Whether we have a deadly virus all over the world and whether we wear masks or not, people still need Jesus, and we still need each other. This is why people should be part of a church like this one. A place of love, hope, family, and Christ.

          We hear encouraging words from the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible prophet Malachi for this morning once again. Malachi tells us a glimpse of the savior who is coming among us soon. Not just a savior that just died to set us free, but also a savior that will teach us to live differently. This reading begins once again in 3:1 saying:

3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; ³ he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. ⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years (Mal. 3:1-4, NRSV).

          Jesus has and will come, but he expects us to live, and love like him.

          In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians for this morning, the Apostle Paul is thanking and encouraging the Christians, the church in Philippi. Once again, the Apostle Paul writes starting in 1:3:

³ I thank my God every time I remember you, ⁴ constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, ⁵ because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel                 (Phil. 1:3-7, NRSV). 

          Look at the love that the Apostle Paul has for the church in Philippi and look at the love that the church in Philippi has for Paul. This is a church I would want to be a part of. In fact, the Apostle Paul missed the Christians in Philippi and wanted to be with them. The reading from the Book of Philippians concludes for this morning saying:

⁸ For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰ to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹ having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God (Phil. 3:8-11, NRSV).

          Be holy, be loving, be like Jesus.

          In looking briefly at our gospel lesson for this morning, we hear that the son of Zechariah, John, or John the Baptist, was proclaiming a baptism of repentance, was baptizing many, and proclaim that the Messiah, the savior, Jesus is coming. This coming will be great and good news to a broken and a hurting world (Lk. 3:1-6, NRSV).

          An alternative gospel of Luke reading for this morning is Luke 1:68-79. It says this about the coming of Christ.

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷⁰ as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, ⁷¹ that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. ⁷² Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴ that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. ⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. ⁷⁸ By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1:68-79, NRSV).

          As we hear this gospel lesson from Luke 1:68-79, we hear of Jesus, the Messiah, the savior. The church, the season of Advent, the season of Christmas, is all about Jesus. When we live for him, like him, and because of him, the church will grow and thrive. It will not grow and thrive because people are forced to be in church or forced to endure a church experience that is harmful. Instead, the church will flourish because Christ is flourishing in us. The church is place we should want to go to. The church is hospital for a broken and ill world. The church is lifeboat next to the sinking ship. The church is a place for us all to encounter Christ and to be transformed. So “What’s The Problem With Jesus?” Nothing. Amen.