God Always Does It First

I John:
The founder of our denomination, John Wesley, used to hear some of the same rationalizations we do today for why people do not attend the church. The words were, “Why should I attend church, it is only full of hypocrites.” To which Wesley replied, “Good, then they are right where they need to be.” We all know that we come as people on a journey, as disciples and students, seeking to learn and grow and become more Christ-like in our lives. We do not come as perfect, but simply with the challenge from Wesley, based upon numerous scriptures “to strive toward perfection,” which means to strive to become the most loving people we can become. We gather seeking to learn and grow in our love of God and our love of each other. This is the challenge of this scripture from I John.

Read I John 4:7-11,19

Gospel of John:
As disciple’s of Christ, we certainly have him as our teacher and example for the living of our lives. In this passage, we see Jesus give us the challenge to move from discipleship, students, to apostles, people who practice our faith.

Read John 15:9-12

Matthew 5:14-16:
The hard part is, that our call to be people of action is a call that asks us to live our faith at the same time we continue to seek and grow and understand our faith. We are disciples and apostles at the same time. So yes, some may consider us hypocrites, as we strive to attain the perfection of living love not that we have already attained it perfectly. Yet, in this next passage Jesus says who we are and what we do reflects the glory of God to the world. So if we are not perfect, how is God glorified? Surely, God’s grace and unconditional love is what always shines through God’s church. Our light to the world is one that shows others that we have a God who cares about us so deeply that we can be and are transformed as we journey with God. Our light is the love of God that is the source of hope for all people. To quote Wesley again, “God loves us so much that God will never leave us as God finds us.” Our light is the transforming love of God ready to bring new life to all who say yes to the words, “Come and follow.”

Read Matthew 5:14-16

Sermon:

A couple of years ago our Annual Conference had a contingent of clergy go to South Korea to observe the church. Christianity, especially Methodism, is a fast growing movement there, so they went to observe what they were doing and to see if we could learn anything from the leadership. At our Annual Conference meeting the Bishop asked those who went to share something they learned while in Korea. One pastor told about how the pastors of the church understood their call to leadership. The example he gave was the church had decided to start a library. The leadership shared this goal with the congregation and suggested that if each member of this 10,000 member church donated just one book, the library would be complete. Not one book was donated the following week. So the next Sunday, the pastor made the announcement again, but with this time addition, “I am donating my personal library to the goal.” The following week 7000 books came in. Our colleague said, “I learned that we, as leaders, cannot ask others to do something we are not willing to do first. We cannot ask others to do something we have not already shown a belief and a commitment to ourselves. This is what it means to be the church, and to provide leadership to others.

I believe that this is what Jesus is telling us when he says, “You are the light of the world! You are a city set on a hill for all to see! It is your acts that reflect the glory of God into the world!  Nancy and I have been talking about the difference between discipleship and apostleship the past few weeks. A disciple is one who sits at the feet of the teacher as a student. An apostle is one who takes what he or she learns and puts it into practice. There may be no more direct definition of apostleship than these words of Jesus. It is only when you put your faith into action that the glory of God is shines into the world around us. For me, Jesus is telling us that we have something new, something different that we are called to show the world. We call it the kingdom or the reign of God. That means that as apostles we have a character that is formed by different values and mores, and even more that we need to have the conviction and integrity to live that character in our lives. We cannot hide our convictions under the bushel basket, but we set them on the lamp stand so all can see who we are and why we live as we do. It also comes to this understanding of leadership. Before we can ask people to do something, we must be willing to live it and model it first.

Nancy and I and I am sure Carol wrestle with how live and model our faith all the time. How do we model something without appearing self-righteous? Well, it’s actually not so hard for me, as my life models the need for grace and the unconditional love of God. I can preach with conviction the God who loves us so deeply that nothing absolutely nothing can separate us from him through Christ Jesus. Seriously, we want to let everyone know we would not ask anyone to do something we are not doing first ourselves. For example, Nancy and I debated a long time whether we should announce that we were donating a $1000 to the March Miracle, but wanted everyone to know we would not ask you to do something we did not live or believe in ourselves. The same with tithing, cannot preach it unless we are willing to practice t ourselves. We cannot ask people to volunteer unless we do also, so we joined a Circle of Support. How can we ask you to take the risk or extend yourselves for God’s kingdom unless we have the integrity to live it ourselves? At times it can be very uncomfortable for we share our understandings of justice and grace and they may call into question some of our accepted social mores and beliefs. But if we do not have the courage to publicly add to a dialogue, how can we ever expect the church to do so?  If we cannot let our faith statement and Christian ethic shine before others, how can we ever expect anyone else to do so? But this is the point, for it seems to me, this challenge is true for us all. To reiterate Jesus’ words in Matthew, “We are to be a light to others, an example to others.” In fact, it seems to be the very premise and cornerstone of faith sharing and faith living as apostles for Jesus Christ.

In their book, Resident Aliens, authors William Willimon, now Bishop Willimon, and Stanley Hauerwaus present an image of the church, the gathered people of God, as an oasis in the midst of life. Their point is, “many people say that we, the church, gather to escape from reality, when in actuality we gather trying to find what is truly real.” We ome as disciples seeking to learn, reflect and grow. But then, we not only learn, but we practice together what we learn, so we may hone our living skills, our faith lives so we may go forth into the world as apostles. So we may indeed put the reality of our faith into the living of our day to day lives.

If we read scripture closely, I believe that we continuously see that this is how God leads us in our journey. That we have a God who lives from a character and an integrity of love towards us, and lets nothing deflect that love. I chose just two of many scriptures available to show that God would not ask us to do anything that God has not done first. I John says, “We can love, because God first loved us.” How has God loved? Certainly by providing creation, itself. But even more, by living an example of love through the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ. Jesus himself says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have already loved you.” He even takes this teaching farther by saying, “No greater love has anyone but this, that a person lay down their life for a friend. You are my friends.” We will remember that love in a very concrete way in a few moments, as we do each month, when we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. “This is my life, body and blood, given for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this is remembrance of this love.” But, in that act of grace, unconditional love where we receive forgiveness first, we are now asked to forgive each other over and over and over again. Jesus’ words, “You are to forgive someone even 70 x 7.” Our faith walk, is learning as disciples from all that God has shown us first, practicing it together, so we can go forth as apostles as a light of love and grace to others. But, again, let me reiterate God always does it first so we only give what we have already received. One spiritual writer has suggested that the light we shine into the world is more like moonlight than sunlight. Our light is simply the reflection of the glory of God that has already blessed us.

Dr. Len Sweet, a leading voice in Christianity today says, “The church, you and me, are the last best hope to save the world. Our modeling, our call, our integrity, our character, matter. They matter, because we cannot ask a world to do what we are not already doing, already living, already modeling ourselves. One of the main reasons people give for not attending and belonging to a church is, “They see no difference in the lives of the church versus the unchurched.” They do not see by the light of our lives where our journey with God has been transformative and makes a difference. We act the same, we relate the same in our lives as those who do not practice their faith. If we are to be the church who lives the “Great Commission” that Nancy reminded us last week ends every one of the four Gospels in some form, then we must have a light that models a life that has been touched by the God who loves us all first. We must have a light that truly shows people that we have something different, something exciting, something transforming that allows others the hope that God can not only save lives personally, but indeed can transform a people, making a difference in our communal relationships as well.

We gather this day and always, seeking the reality of God’s grace, mercy and truth. We gather to receive it, to practice it by sharing it with each other, so we may indeed go forth into this God’s world as a light to the glory and truth of God’s grace. We are all ministers to the world. We are all asked to bring the good news to every board room, class room, and living room in our community. We are called to be the light of love that we have received first.

In your bulletin, there is an insert. The questions ask what is it I would like to learn more about as a disciple of Christ. What classes and venues would I like to experience that can help my Christian character grow. What do I need to fully live the integrity of my faith in my day to day life? As those who seek to serve you, we want to know how we may best do this. Then, we want to know what ministries you would like to live as a light to the world. What would you like to do, who do you feel called to minister to? If you can answer these questions during our time of communion and place your responses in a plate provided up front as your offering back that would be great. If you need more time to reflect before you turn them in that is great too, but please return them in the offering plate next week or at the office. You do not need to put your names on the sheets if you do not want to as this survey is simply trying t see how we can answer our call to preach and teach in those ways that are important to you. We are called to go into the world preaching, teaching and living God’s good news to us, a good news we were given first. How can we help each other move from discipleship to apostleship? The kingdom of God we pray will come each week depends upon us doing this.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on May 6, 2007.