Sidney UMC - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 09/17/23 - Sermon - “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!” (“Why are some churches shrinking and closing?” Series: Part 3 of 6)

                                 Sunday 09/17/23 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:               “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!”               

(“Why are some churches shrinking and closing?” Series: Part 3 of 6)       

Old Testament Scripture: Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21                           

New Testament Scripture: Romans 14:1-12

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 18:21-35 

          Two weeks ago, I started a 6-week sermon series partially based on a great little book that was published back in 2014, called “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer. In this book Thom S. Rainer discusses why many churches in our country are shrinking and even closing. Each week, in this 6-week sermon series, I am comparing parts of this book to the scripture readings we have for a given Sunday. Today my sermon is called “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!”

          So far in this sermon series I have preached a sermon called “Take Up Our Cross and Follow Jesus!” and last Sunday a sermon called “The Culture of the Church!”. In looking at the book “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer and our weekly scripture readings, churches that grow and flourish are generally rooted in deep faith in Jesus Christ. When we have deep faith and “Take Up Our Cross and Follow Jesus!” we are changed, the church is changed, and world is changed.

           The culture of our church, or how we love and operate must also be reflective of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we discussed last Sunday. This morning once again, I want to talk about “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!” Our gospel of Matthew 18:15-20 reading from last Sunday certainly touched on this, but I want to expand on this even more this Sunday. Last Sunday Jesus walked us through how to ask for forgiveness if someone sins against us in the church, and how where two or three are gathered that Jesus is among them.

          With this said, the chapters that I want to tie into this morning’s sermon from “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer with our scripture readings are chapter 6 “The Great Commission Becomes the Great Omission,” and chapter 6, “The Preference-Driven Church.” Again, the reasons that some churches shrink and close are varied, but this book seems to touch on many common reasons for this.

          In addition to having deeply rooted faith in Jesus Christ, and having a healthy and Christlike church culture, we individually, and as a church, need to practice “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness.” There are times where we all mess up, where all fall short, and we all sin. Sometimes we sin against each other, and sometimes we realize that we lost our cool, or acted in an un-Christlike way. Forgiveness, for some of us, can be heard sometimes, but if we want peace, if we want to draw closer to God, then we have to forgive!

          In the Book of James, it says in 5:16:

16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective                    (Jas. 5:16, NRSV).

          So, we are to confess our sins to each other, pray for each other, and James says that “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective (Jas. 5:16b, NRSV). I also know that every month on communion Sunday that when we have our prayer of confession that I comment that I would like to sit this one out, but I can’t! I definitely can’t for our first Sunday communion service in October.

          For those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, some of you know that “I had a moment” this past Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I got home really late from the church on Tuesday, and I was tired, frustrated, and drained. I sat in my old recliner and just prayed, “Help Me Jesus.” I then posted this on my Facebook page, “Help Me Jesus…” Well, you know how the internet is! By morning I had multiple phone calls, messages, etc. In hindsight, I guess Jesus sent me the help I asked for!

          It seems silly now, but it was a series of crazy things that built up to your pastor feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. So, was my prayer answered? Oh yes and yes! My struggles were partially what I call “First World Problems.” You know issues we have that would not even be an issue in countries where people don’t have the abundance that we have in countries like ours. For example, if the grocery store is out of Pepsi, this a “First World Problem,” as you won’t die as a result.

          This past Sunday my desktop copier in the church office decided to become demon possessed, and I spent hours on Sunday trying unsuccessfully to fix it. So, I ordered a new cheap printer, and on Tuesday night was unsuccessful in getting that new printer/copier to work right. So, it’s now about 11:00 PM on Tuesday night, yes I know, crazy late. So, I walked into the church sanctuary to load up my Power Point for the service this morning. Well, the projector was dead, and didn’t work.

          So, I got Keith’s big green later, and I climbed up the latter and started messing with the project to get it to work. After about half an hour, I stood on that later a little after 11:30 PM, and thought, “this is crazy, I’m going home!” Keith and I finally got this fixed after a long time of trial and error on Wednesday, and my church office printer/copier is mostly working now.

          I look back at Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, I now think “what was I so upset about?” So, I took some time to reflect and pray about this. What I realized is this, I am so devoted to the mission of this church, that sometimes a series of little things can really get me upset. I went home on Tuesday night feeling defeated, exhausted, and lonely. I then got an avalanche of love as an out pouring though.

          During the morning on Wednesday, as Keith and I were trying to fix the projector, Keith started flipping circuit break switches back and forth. A couple times I heard Sarah Pressler say loudly in the church office, “My lights and computer just turned off!” As I was buzzing in and out of the office with Keith trying to fix all of this Sarah said at one point, “Boy Pastor, the devil is after you today!”

          I laughed as I sat down to finally write this sermon on Wednesday afternoon as the Book of Exodus said of the devil, in 15:9, for this morning, once again:

⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue; I will overtake; I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them’                      (Ex. 15:9, NRSV).

          Even though this scripture is part of the full 15:1-21 reading often called “The Song of Victory,” of the Israelites or Jews fleeing slavery in Egypt, there is still a mention of evil. So, what is it that gets under our skin? Is it “First World Problems,” or is it something else? Do we ever get upset over little things? What causes us to get really worked up. When we get upset, when we miss the mark, when we sin do not give and receive forgiveness? Do we show and live the love of Jesus Christ even though we all fall short sometimes?

          “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness,” are central to healthy faith, healthy lives, and healthy churches. I think on Wednesday of this week I told a couple people sorry that I was grumpy and or intense. Looking for and offering “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness” is central to our faith, our lives, and a healthy church.

          I remember a church my mother and my stepfather used to attend had a pastor in it that had some hurtful things to them. My mother and stepfather were committee leaders in this church, and both sent letters of resignation to the pastor and explained why they were leaving the church. The pastor never called, never sent a letter, or never stopped by for a cup of coffee to try to work things out. We are called to do our best every day to live like Jesus Christ. We are called to fulfill the great commission, to bring people to Christ, the make sure that they are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we are called to teach them to live and love like Jesus.

          This why the chapter of an “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer is called “The Great Commission Becomes the Great Omission” (AOADC pg. 39). Being like, living like, and loving like Jesus is in part to strive towards “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness”. Sometimes when someone offers me forgiveness, or when I forgive someone else, I feel as free as a bird. Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive, or that you are angry at?

          In our reading for this morning from Romans 14:1-2 on not judging each other, we have a beautiful scripture reading for this morning, that starts with 14:1 saying, once again:

14 Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. ² Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. ³ Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. ⁵ Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. ⁶ Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God. ⁷ For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” ¹² So then, each one of us will be held accountable                      (Rom. 14:1-12, NRSV).

          This is really a beautiful scripture that calls us to love each other, to realize that we all have our differences, and a scripture that calls us not to judge, but to lovingly hold each other accountable. We are not called to sin, to hate, or be harmful to each other, even though we are all guilty of this sometimes. The gospel of Jesus Christ, “The Great Commission” calls us to holiness, righteousness, hope, glory, “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!”

          Churches that are growing and thriving, and churches that are filled with “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!” Being open to people that are not like us and might do things a little differently than we do them, is a good thing according to Romans 14:1-12. In the book “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” by Thom S. Rainer chapter 7 is called “The Preference-Driven Church”

For anyone that has seen the recent movie “Jesus Revolution,” which is now on Netflix, the pastor in the movie feels called by God to bring a bunch of hippies into his California church in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. The problem is that some church leaders don’t want these kids to come in because they are very different than they were. Yet the Apostle Paul tells us otherwise in Romans 14:1-12. One of the funniest moments in this movie is when one or more of the church elders are worried that if the hippies come into their church barefoot, then they will dirty their newly installed shag carpet. As Thom Rainer says in chapter 7 of his book this church in the movie Jesus Revolution was “The Preference-Driven Church”.

          So, what does the pastor do the next Sunday, he was a bowl and towel and he washes the feet of these hippies at the doorway of the church, to ensure there clean and washed feet won’t dirty the new shag carpet in the church. “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness” these are essential for strong faith, a strong church, and for life.

          In our gospel of Matthew 18:21-35 reading for this morning the Apostle Peter asked Jesus about forgiveness. In fact, our gospel reading for this morning, is says starting from 18:21 once again, this:

²¹ Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times (Mt. 18:21-22, NRSV).

 

          Think of someone you forgave once, but really didn’t want to. Imagine forgiving them seventy-seven times? (Mt. 18:22b, NRSV). Jesus is giving this large number to the Apostle Peter to tell him forgive an unlimited number of times.

          To better illustrate this, Jesus then tells the parable or the story commonly called “The Unforgiving Servant.” Here is how the parable or story goes, once again:

²³ “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, ²⁵ and, as he could not pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³² Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. ³⁵ So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Mt. 18:23-35, NRSV).

 

          The slave’s debt was forgiven by his lord, but then that same slave demanded a debt from a fellow slave. This slave did not forgive the other slaves’ debt. The Lord then brought the original slave back to see him who’s debt he forgave, and called him wicked for not forgiving the other slaves’ debt, as his debt was forgiven.

          Churches that are growing and flourishing are rooted deeply in Christ, have a loving and healthy church culture, and practice “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness.” Next week is part 4 of this sermon series, and we will be talking about “Don’t Get Stuck On The Small Stuff! Sometimes I get can get stuck on the small stuff, so I hope I preach good to myself next Sunday! May we this day and always, as followers of Christ offer all people “Forgiveness, Love, and Openness!” Amen.