Make Every Effort

Text: Ephesians 4:1-7

Focus: Unity

Function: To help people commit to unity.

Form: Expository.

Intro: This year, our youth and Rick Flickinger are on a journey to National Youth Conference.

The theme is “Called by Christ -blessed for the journey together.”

And they choose this passage as a framework for the conference. This passage is about the Clergy, in this case, Paul giving commands to the Laity, in this case, the Church in Ephesus.

Called by Christ is appropriate for this. Because he gives the Church, all of us, two callings.

It is important to note that the word laity, the word that denotes non-pastors, prophets, missionaries and denominational executives actually comes from the Greek word Laeo. That is the Greek verb: “to shout, or to call.”

The emphasis, as this was used in the early church was that every Christian, not just the clergy, are called by Christ.

Say this, out loud, to yourself: “I am called by Christ.”

Paul, as their leader, who is now in prison calls them to two things.

And he calls them to do these things as a way of honoring his own personal sacrifice as a prisoner on their behalf.

Call 1: Live a life worthy.

And the means for that, verse 2 is through: “humility, gentleness and patience.”

In verse 2, Yoder Neufeld points out “humility, gentleness and patience would have been seen as `embarrassing non-assertiveness'” to Paul's audience.

So, we live a life worthy by being different. By being willing to be Christian instead of worldly.

The second call then springs out of the first: Call 2: Make every effort to maintain unity.

He is calling the members of his Church to work at unity with one another.

Unity happens by choice. Christian Unity happens by choice. We choose to get along with each other. And to do that we have to know why.

Why? 7 things in common:

1. One Body
2. One Spirit
3. One Hope
4. One Lord
5. One Faith
6. One Baptism
7. One God and Father (parent).

These are the 7 things in common. These 7 things are a glue that holds us together. It is pretty obvious what they are, but let us question the difference between One Lord, and One God/Father/Parent.

One Lord implies dominion. We are under the dominion of God. He is God, and we are not. One God/Father -Parent, implies one family. The good news is reconciliation back into God's family. The Kingdom of God, ruled by Christ is also a kindom, a family.

Notice that there isn't:

1. One race
2. One nation
3. One gender
4. One political party
5. One style of music
6. One favorite sport
7. One favorite color
8. One individual idea
9. One economic class

As Christians, we are part a global family.

Individual preferences are good. No, they are great. They make a fabric woven together that is beautiful, diverse that can celebrate many different styles and passions.

We don't have to be one of all these other things because we are one in the Spirit. We are one in the faith.

But being different means that we have to work at unity.

There is one body. That body is the body of Christ.

The same Holy Spirit is inside of us.

The same hope is here.

The same authority is here

The same trust is here.

The same baptism is here.

• Even then, they had different forms of baptism.
• But we are all baptized by the same Spirit into the same body of Christ.

The same father/family is here.

And this Father has a purpose. To restore humanity to wholeness.

And this Father's body, the hands and feet that restore the world is us.

We have the same purpose.

Make Every Effort to preserve that unity.

That is kind of odd considering there are over 10,000 different denominations of Christianity.

That is kind of odd since Church's splitting is pretty common.

Have we failed that command?

Maybe.

Let us remember something that will help with unity.

It isn't about us.

The Church is the one institution whose members exist for the good of those who are non-members.

Repeat that.

We exist for the good of others.

This has always been the way of God's family.

The call to Abraham. Genesis 12:3 In You (Abraham) all the families of the earth will be blessed.

• I notice 2 things: 1). In talking about the nations, God refers to them as families and 2). God is blessing Abraham in order for Abraham to be a blessing to others.

God has given us His hope, power, Spirit, and blessings so that we can in turn bless others.

But we live in a culture of consumerism. Not only does our culture reject gentleness, patience and humility, it celebrates consumption.

I have mentioned Church consumerism the last few weeks.

I have decried the fact that at times, we come to Church to get our needs met.

And that is kind of backwards. Kind of. Let me explain why it is only kind of backwards.

First the “backwards” and then the “kind of.”

When we were redeemed, when we were baptized, we symbolized that we have died to ourselves to live for Christ.

Covenantially, with God, we are not here to get our needs met, we are here to worship and be equipped to then serve.

But we, because we live in a consumer driven culture, have been taught that we should value something only if we can get something out of it.

And that is backwards.

People question what value they get out of worshiping God.

People question what value they get out of serving others.

Remember, the early Church was persecuted to death by the Romans.

So, to come to Church merely to get our needs met is backwards.

However, the “Kind of” of the “kind of backwards” is important also.

My last statements were in the negative, and guilt and shame motivates no one.

You see, we do get our needs met.

And that is the “kind of” part.

Because, we get our needs met when we are meeting the needs of others.

I am not talking about condescension or patrimony.

I am talking about the joy of fellowship, with God and others, when the Holy Spirit works through us in service.

God Himself is in us working to heal a hurting world.

I am talking about washing the feet of others and letting others wash our feet. Not symbolically, but as a way of life.

I am talking about the Biblical principle of the moving and power of the Holy Spirit.

Out of our bellies will flow rivers of living water.

When God is at work in us, we are a part of something bigger.

We get to enter into partnership with God and with each other.

It comes from our perspective on Church membership/involvement. Do we consider it the privilege of membership or the responsibility of partnership?

Consider the Church more like a galley than a cruise ship.

On a galley, everyone is rowing, setting sails, cooking meals and contributing to the voyage.

On a cruise ship, we hire people to do all that for us so that we can enjoy leisure.

Membership, in that sense implies privilege.

However, partnership, like on the galley implies responsibility.

We are responsible.

Paul is being a great leader here. He is not doing the work for them, he is making them responsible for the success of the Church.

So. We go back to verse 3 of the text.

Make Every Effort to keep the unity...

We are called by Christ, to Christ.

Paul gives a command, or a call, to his congregation based solely on his authority as their Apostle/pastor.

Remember, everyone who is a believer is called out of this world's systems to be a part of God's Kingdom here on earth.

The clergy are called to more, that is true.

But that doesn't excuse the responsibility of everyone else.

He is asking them, because of his own sacrifice for them, to make every effort at unity.

What does it take for this unity to happen?

He says it right here: be humble, be gentle, be patient and bear with each other in love.

I love that bear with each other line the best.

We already looked at how humility, patience and gentleness were perceived as weaknesses back then, as well as now. And we have all taken on the Spirit of Christ and a willingness to demonstrate those fruits of the Holy Spirit.

But let us go back to bear with each other in love.

That means to accept each others' failings as well as their successes.

That means if the current Sunday School teacher lectures more than the previous SS teacher who asked provocative questions, we bear with him or her.

That means if someone's preference for music is more Southern Gospel than an others' desire for choruses, or for well structured hymns, we bear with them.

That means that if someone has the gift of art, or poetry, or sewing, we find ways to incorporate their gifts in worship as well.

Every church has someone who speaks their with a little bit less tact than most other people. We bear with them.

We make allowances for those who do not hear as well, for those who are not as physically able and for those whose spiritual backgrounds and traditions are completely different than our own.

As much as it is within each of us as individuals, we make this effort. Cause we are on a journey together.

It Happened to Them

Text: John 20:1-18

Focus: Jesus' Resurrection

Function: To help people connect to the fact that Jesus' atonement happened for them individually.

Form: GOK

When I was a child, I prayed a simple prayer that went like this: “Dear Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, forgive my sins and save me.”

And you know what happened? He did. Later that day, when I was telling my dad about it, I realized that I felt Him inside of me. He was/is, in my heart.

I remember where it happened. It was in the basement of Oakridge lodge at the Methodist campground on lake Wawasee. It was July 4^th, 1961.

Please don't be shocked or offended at this next sentence. I am only saying it to provoke you to listen.

Although I believe that the speaker told me the truth, and I believe in the truth of that prayer, the Bible never says: “pray to ask Jesus to come into your hearts and forgive your sins so that when you die you can go to heaven.”

The gospel message is not ONLY (REPEAT) “if you believe, when you die you will go to heaven.”

No way, it is much MUCH more than that.

If the only part of the good news that we are proclaiming is “accept Jesus in your heart so that when you die you will go to heaven,” then we have woefully, woefully, underserved the gospel.

A few weeks ago we looked at a certain hope. John 11, Jesus said: “whosoever lives and believes in me will never die.” And then looking at Martha He said: “Do you believe this?”

In The Message translation we read it this way: “You don't have to wait for the end, I am right now, Resurrection and Life...”

What do we think of when we hear the words “preach the gospel?”

Because, in all four gospels, the gospel message is never “when you die, you will go to heaven...”

The Gospel message in every place it is recorded in scripture is this: The Kingdom of God is Here.” Its Here! It is right now!

The emphasis is on the here and now, not the future.

God's Kingdom is here and now.

I served a Church in Lancaster Co, PA, where all the Amish, Mennonites, German Baptists, Brethren of all degrees and variations from white, to gray, to black buggies drawn by horses to cars as long as they were painted black to those who had regular cars but wore plain clothing to the Anabaptists like us who drove and wore about anything.

I buried this dear old saint, Edith. She was in her 90's when she died. She was still plain dressed with the head covering and the cape type cotton dress and everything. She chose her final years in a out of the way Mennonite nursing home because they didn't have any televisions in it.

And when she died, the nurse called me and said something that was really cool. She said: “Pastor, I just want you to know that Edith has stopped breathing.”

She refused to say that Edith died.

Again, Jesus said: “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?”

John 3:15, whoever believes will have eternal life.

Today, we have proof. Today we celebrate the proof. Jesus, who was dead is now alive! Death could not keep its prey! Praise God.

So let us look at Mary, this women from today's text when she finally believes that Jesus has risen.

To say that in that day and age women were considered to be less than men would be an understatement.

At one point, Jesus rebukes the Jewish leaders because they placed more value on the lives of their oxen and donkeys than they did the women who were suffering.

She was a woman in a culture that had little regard for women.

And that culture was given little regard in comparison to the world at large. These people were virtual slaves to their Roman oppressors.

Mary had been some kind of sinner. She had been a demoniac. She is the woman who anointed Jesus' feet. Simon the Pharisee hated her because she was a woman of ill repute, most likely a prostitute.

She was the kind of woman that no one liked.

And Jesus appears to her first.

Wow.

And when we look at the story, the thought that Jesus has risen from the dead - as He said He would- just doesn't occur to her.

For some reason, to her, that kind of miracle is to good to be true.

Have you ever doubted because it is to good to be true?

To her, good things do not happen.

To her, life beats her up and discards her.

To her, she is merely a person to be despised.

But the good news is this: God's Kingdom of healing, wholeness, restoration and health has already come.

I wonder if the biggest miracle on that first Easter morning is what we read in verse 18 when she reports to the rest of Jesus' disciples: “I have seen the Lord!”

When Mary, against her doubts, grief and misery believes that this is happening TO HER.

It is easy for us to think of what happens when we die, and we better get saved to prepare for that time. It is important.

But God's kingdom is here and now and we make so little of it if we keep confined to the afterlife.

What a message from God, to Mary's of her own personal importance.

For Mary, Easter isn't about some cosmic thing that happens everywhere else to everyone else.

Easter happened for her.

Later, the apostles come to the same realization: it happened for them.

I have wondered at times if the biggest miracles of that day took place right there in the garden when Mary and the disciples realized that this resurrection miracle not only happened to the whole world, but it also happened to them.

Do you remember last Sunday when I made a call to come to Love Feast. I said, “so often we come to church with a consumer mindset, so that we can get something out of it. But Love Feast isn't about us, it is about God.”

Today is the opposite.

Jesus rose for us.

Jesus rose for you.

Say it, “Jesus rose for me.”

SUNRISE SERVICE MEDITATION

Here we are in nature on this beautiful Easter morning in Spring.

The sun has just risen, we are gathered here at about the same time of day as Mary when she came to the tomb.

She came to grieve her loss and to experience the pain of death. She came to express her sorrow. She came without hope.

But just as this last cruel winter is over, just as this last evening of darkness has passed, here we are being born into a new day, a new year of hope with trust in Jesus who overcame death.

I once heard a sermon about Easter that was anything but true. I was angered and I walked out on it. The preacher declared that on this morning, at the tomb, the disciples were so grieved that they banded together to comfort each other and their commiseration became their fellowship and the church was born.

The preacher said, it was almost as if Christ really did rise from the dead. What a sad hope he has!

Listen to these words from from 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15

The Message (MSG)
^12-15Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.
^16-20If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
^35-38Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
^42-44This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live
plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
^51-57But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

Who is This?

Text: Matthew 27:11-54

Focus: Jesus Passion

Function: A visceral look at Jesus' Passion

Form: GOK

Intro: Last week I mentioned my friend who rejects the idea that we can, and should, allow someone else to die on our behalf.

I didn't say that to alarm you all and some may wonder how I can then say that I am sure that I will see him in heaven.

Well. God is a lot bigger than me. And my friend loves Jesus. He loves Jesus not only because Jesus spent three years teaching us how to live and love each other.

But he also loves Jesus because on that cross, Jesus taught us how to forgive.

I, like him, find those words from Jesus: “Father, forgive them....” to be some of, if not thee, most powerful words in the entire bible.

God is love and the power of God's love is never more perfectly demonstrated than right there in those words.

1 Peter 4:8 tells us that Love covers a multitude of sins. Maybe that is how my friend comes to salvation. I don't know.

I still believe that God is powerful enough to have just wiped out every sin by decreeing it so.

I do not believe that God is mean, or angry.

The cross is a demonstration of God's love.

But the cross is a bloody image. This cross is gold, but to the reader of these texts, or the hearers of these stories when the Romans were still in power, the word “crucified” brought terror.

We need to give pause when we consider Jesus.

The questions, “Who is This?” “Who is Jesus?” may be the most important question that anyone ever asks.

That seems to be the question in Pilate's mind in today's text.

And I am convinced that faith comes when we take the time to look at Jesus.

Pilate asks Jesus: “Are you the king...?”

Essentially, Pilate's wife asks Pilate: “What are you doing with this man?”

Pilate asks the crowd who has been manipulated into some sort of blood lust: “Who do you want, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus from Nazareth?”

And finally, the declaration of who Jesus is comes at the end of the today's lesson when the Centurion declares: “Truly this was the son of God.”

The Centurion saw God at Jesus death and believed.

He saw the sky turn black.

He saw the earthquakes.

He saw the way Jesus gave up His own life.

His questions were answered. And he knew who Jesus was.

By taking the time to look at Jesus, we see who He is.

In one sense, we lose something by relying solely on sermons to inform our theology.

If the preacher succeeds, we are moved, and we connect either with a story or with 3 points to support some proposition that will either change us, help us to change others, or change the world.

But many times Jesus didn't use a sermon, He used stories, He called a child to Him, He broke bread, He pointed to buildings, He cursed a fig tree and etc.

He invited people into the lesson with things that they could hold, taste, touch and see.

So, Thursday night, you get to preach a sermon without speaking.

I am convinced that the reason why the Jewish people have been able to maintain their identity is because of the Jewish Seder dinner they hold every year at Passover.

There is a seat at the table for Elijah, a cup of wine poured in his name. There is a time of wonder for the children as they go through the room looking for a prize.

There is the retelling of the same story year after year. It has gone on for three thousand, six hundred years and it still maintains something fresh and exciting every single time the story is told.

Reliving it, reinforces it.

So, I am inviting you to Love Feast.

And this morning, I am going to preach why we believe it is important.

Love feast is our symbolic look at Jesus.

It tells us who this Jesus is.

It connects us with Jesus in a way beyond our auditory senses.

And, it is commanded.

And it is has the power to save.

In 2006, I took part in a study with 5 other Brethren pastors. We went to England to study the state of the Church there.

England, as I once mentioned has 16,000 ordained preachers and 50,000 registered mediums. It is definitely a post-Christian nation.

We studied churches who were being effective in that environment so that we can effectively lead American Churches.

At a worship service where no sermon was preached, I watched a woman get converted.

It was one of the more wonderful salvation stories that I have ever seen.

She was like the woman at the well. She was twice divorced, just recently estranged from another man and she was hurting.

An Anglican priest and his wife befriended her and brought her to this unique worship service.

Instead of being in rows and hearing a sermon, we sat at tables with a candle in the middle, 4 people to a table and 8 envelopes.

Everyone lead by opening an envelope and leading the others to participate in the envelope's instructions.

At her first envelope she said: “if this is a prayer, I am passing, I have never prayed in my life. I have never had any use for God.” Luckily, it was not a prayer.

But by the time she got to her second envelope, which was a prayer, she was quick to lead it. Something changed inside of her.

By the end of the service, we took communion. She told us that she had heard about it, but never done it. “Heard about it...” was the limit of her experience.

By then, she fully understood the symbol of communion. She told us that she was embracing Christ as her Savior that night. She said: “I believe.”

I wept.

They symbols of our Christian faith led her to Christ without a sermon.

They teach us.

So, in John 13:1-17, we read the story of the upper room, the first Love Feast.

It ends with the words: “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.”

In the Greek text where it was originally written are the words “all of them.” “Happy are you... ...blessed are you if you do them all.”

The story is simple. It has three components.

First, Jesus washes the disciples feet.

Jesus actions are mysterious to the disciples.

When Jesus gets to Peter, he refuses.

Peter reasons: Jesus is Master and Lord, how can the Master humble Himself to wash the feet of His servants?

Jesus tells him, “If I do not wash you, you cannot have any part of me.”

This strikes home in our culture of Self-Sufficiency. We are strong. We can take care of ourselves. We can give to others. And the hardest thing for any one of us to do is to receive from others.

It is not hard to wash someone else's feet. But letting our feet, or hands be washed is difficult for us.

If we are to proud to be served by others, especially someone who we may consider less than us, we cannot have any part of Jesus.

The most effective thing we do in the prison when serving in Kairos is to respect the men enough to call them by name instead of a number and to actually listen enough to understand them. We let them pray for us.

By letting them serve us, we dignify them, we elevate them to the point where they begin to believe that they are worthy, by God's love, of God's salvation. Being served by others is true community.

The hardest part of love feast is not washing someone's stinky feet, it is letting someone wash our own.

Then we share a meal.

You may remember the story of Joseph and his brothers.

When he finally fed them, he sat them at a different table than himself because Egyptians and Hebrews dare not eat together.

One group considered themselves superior over the other.

To share a meal is to declare a common place together in humanities hierarchy.

And finally, we end with the bread and the cup.

Again, this practice is commanded: (SAY) Someone knows what is written here under this cloth... (point to altar table): “this do in remembrance of Me.”

This visceral reminder of Jesus passion is commanded in order to keep our eyes focused on what Jesus did for us.

Remember my friend and his denial of the atonement?

His view is really hard for me.

In John 6, Jesus refers to Himself as “The Bread of Life” and then tells His followers that in order for them to be a part of God's Kingdom, they must eat His flesh and drink His blood.

The text says that many, it alludes to the majority, of His followers stopped following Him after this.

Instead of thousands traveling together, we see a band of followers small enough that the authorities need Judas to betray Jesus in order to find Jesus.

The crowds left Him.

Hard words.

Eat my flesh... Drink my blood...

I cannot imagine a scenario where I would do that.

Human sacrifice and cannibalism is not permitted.

Those words sounded crazy to many.

Jesus asks His disciples if they want to leave Him also.

Peter says no. He has seen to much to abandon Jesus. But none of them understand this mystery of which Jesus is speaks.

So, let us delve into this mystery.

Jesus gave His life. BUT, we took it.

He gave, but WE TOOK HIS LIFE

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, there is this scene when a German and an American soldier are doing their soldier duties and are involved in mortal combat and finally one soldier gets the upper hand and drives a knife into his opponent.

The victor hates his duty, so after the killing blow is administered, he cradles the head of the victim and comforts him as he dies.

He hates his soldierly duty, but to him, it must be done. He had to do it.

Jesus gave His life.

But we took it.

We hate the fact that we did it. But we did.

Jesus' words in John 6 imply a willing participation on our behalf.

To me, there is a haunting echo in those words: “Unless you are willing to eat my flesh and drink my blood...”

It sends shivers down our spines.

That is why Mel Gibson, in “The Passion of the Christ,” plays only one part, and we never see his face.

It is his hand, by his hand, that the nails are driven into Christ.

He is saying something about all of us.

We too, are complicit in Jesus' death.

“Unless we eat the flesh and drink His blood...”

It was for our sins that Jesus died.

It is as if we actually killed Him.

Partaking in the bread and cup is a frightfully awesome symbol.

When we understand its mystery, it is hard for us to do.

I might agree with my friend in refusing to celebrate my, our, guiltiness, in the death of Jesus.

But remember. (pause) We could not have taken His life if He had not given it.

He gave what we take.

He did not have to give it.

In the garden, one of the other most important sentences is proclaimed by Jesus: “nevertheless, not my will be done...”

CONCL:

This is your sermon.

This is your declaration of your faith.

It is a somber service that is not intended to shame anyone. But it is a visceral experience intended for us to always remember the price of our restoration into God's family.

Too often we come to church to “get our needs met.”

But this is about God, and our thanks to Him.

You should come.

If washing feet is too difficult for you physically, or mentally, you have the option of washing one another's hands, or abstaining from that portion.

There is never any judgment here.

But I promise a meaningful worship experience that the rest of the world does not understand.