Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 - Growing Faith

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 - Growing Faith
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Presbyterian Churches
February 13, 2011

Today I will be preaching my fourth in a series of sermons drawn from the book of First Corinthians. In this important book Paul is helping churches that he dearly loves as their founding pastor. He has heard about divisions in these churches and is dealing with these conflicts by telling them to focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in preaching and teaching and also to focus on God in worship. Today we will see that the leaders of the church must work together to eliminate the conflicts and help the churches to grow both spiritually and in the number of members. This is as important today as it was in the first century. We will get to it, but first lets pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 NRS 1 Corinthians 3:1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

In today's scripture Paul is giving us an agricultural metaphor. Paul planted seeds, Apollos watered and fertilized them, and the church was the cultivated field growing in faith by God's will. Paul and Apollos, rather than dividing the church, were actually working together but doing different things. Paul was speaking to people who were new to the faith, and who had just joined the church. Apollos was speaking to maturing people who had been hearing God's word in worship for several years. With both Paul and Apollos the church was planted and watered and fertilized and growing.

In a few weeks the farmers in this area will begin planting sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and other crops. These crops must be watered and fertilized throughout the warmer months so that they will yield a bountiful harvest. But suppose you decided not to plant anything this year, and no crops go into the ground. What would happen if you continued to water and fertilize all summer without first planting. Would anything grow? Of course not! Well, maybe a few seeds from last year might sprout, but not many. You must plant the field before anything will grow in it.

This is the problem facing the church. We do a real good job of watering and fertilizing believers. We have worship, Bible studies, and fellowship and prayer groups. Our faith is nurtured and our spiritually is growing. But we have forgotten how to plant. We don't go out and share our faith with others. If you don't put new biddies in the chicken house how will you ever grow new chickens. In the same way if we don't talk to people about faith and invite them to church how will the church ever grow? To answer this question let's turn to a respected Christian theologian who knew something about planting faith and growing churches, Lesslie Newbigin.

In 1936 Dr. Newbigin graduated from college, married his sweetheart, was ordained as a pastor in the Church of Scotland, and was sent to India as a missionary. In India he started new churches. As World War II developed the protestant churches in India banded together and in 1941 Newbigin became their bishop. He wrote extensively on the subject of mission, giving us theological reasons and practical advise for doing mission work, for planting churches and helping churches to grow.

In 1974 Newbigin returned to Great Britain and became the pastor of a small church with a strong ministry to a local prison. Newbigin was surprised by all the changes that had occurred in the British churches while he was in India. And he recognized what was happening. The Scottish churches of his youth had held a privileged position in Scottish society. This was the legacy of Christendom. Since the fourth century when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and established the church as the official religion of the Roman empire the church has held a special place in the societies of Europe and North America, this was called Christendom. But since the 17th century the church has gradually lost its privileged position in society as the doctrine of the separation of church and state took hold. Christendom effectively ended in the twentieth century. Blue laws, which once prevented businesses from opening on Sundays, have been repealed. Prayer has been removed from schools. Christian Christmas displays have been removed from public property. The church has become a voluntary association of believers competing with other organizations for people and resources and no longer holds a special place in western society.

Newbigin realized that the churches in Great Britain and North America had lost their privileged status and therefore were more like the churches in India. Christendom had never come to India. In India the church had to compete with traditional religions for members. The Indian church never held a privileged position in society. It never came close to being a national religion. So the Indian churches had to be missional. The had to be church planters. They had to go out and invite people to come to church. That was the only way their churches could be sustained and grow. And with the demise of Christendom, the church in the west, like the church in India, must also become missional.

Traditionally we think of mission and evangelism as a program of the church. Maybe it is a line item on a budget. Maybe a committee is established. Maybe evangelism is written into the terms of call for the pastor. Maybe we have a mission program. But rarely is mission and evangelism the primary focus of the church. We are usually concern most with nurturing our own faith and maintaining our buildings.

But Newbigin argued that mission and evangelism are not things that the church does, rather it is what the church is. Consider for a moment the Nicene Creed. We often say it in church on communion Sundays. In the Nicene creed “church” is defined as one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The church, as God sees it, is united, it spans the world, and is set aside for God's use. But what does the the term, “apostolic” mean? Newbigin pointed out that “apostolic” in Greek means “to be sent”. So he concluded that the church is defined as people who are sent. We are sent into the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ to spread the good news. So the purpose of church is to gather people together to water and fertilize their faith, and then send the people of God back into the world planting their faith in others and inviting people to gather as church to nurture that faith. According to Newbigin the church is a community of the gathered and the sent.

This has important implication for us. A generation or two ago there was no need to evangelize the communities on the eastern shore. This was a Christian area and everyone knew the basics of faith. Not everyone went to church, but nearly everyone prayed, believed in God and knew that church was the place where you should be on Sunday mornings. But all of this has changed. Today people sleep in on Sundays. They enjoy leisurely mornings drinking coffee and reading the paper. Area business are open and encourage to eat out and shop. Television and radio stations know that Sunday morning is a profitable time and encourage people to watch and listen. People can go fishing, hunting, boating, swimming, crabbing, and a myriad of other things every Sunday morning. In this environment we have to be competitive with all the other options people have on Sunday morning. We do have something compelling to offer: a relationship with the Creator of the Universe through his son Jesus Christ. We do water and fertilize our faith very well. We know how to worship, pray and study scripture. All we have do now is to plant seeds of faith and God will ensure an abundant yield: a growing church.

Lesslie Newbigin once told a story. He was traveling through southern India in a area of the ruins of ancient shrines and houses. He realized that at first all the buildings had fit together properly. But one day a bird flew over and dropped a seed in a gap between two stones. That seed grew into a massive tree and finally split the stones apart and destroyed the building. Our work as a sent people is to plant seeds wherever we go: a conversation with a friend at Hardees or at the Lion's Club, a telephone call with a grandchild, time spent with someone experiencing loss. We plant seeds by telling others what God has done for us. The seeds you plant may not spout immediately. It will take time. But if you plant the Spirit of God in someone's heart it will take hold and begin to grow.

So we need to plant if we want faith to grow and our churches to prosper because the era of Christendom has ended, and now it is time for us to take on the responsibility of planting faith in the hearts of others. We do this because we are followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus showed us how to plant faith. And Jesus commanded us to plant faith in the hearts of new disciples wherever we go. So I declare to you that Spring is almost here and it is time for planting.

Lord Jesus we are ready to be sent. Equip us for the mission ahead. Help us to share our faith with others. Please use us as you plant the seed of faith in the people we know. And bless us this week with growing faith as we pray, worship and study scripture. Amen.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sermon - 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 – Worshiping God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 – Worshiping God
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
February 6, 2011

I am continuing, this morning with our look at the New Testament Book of First Corinthians. We have heard, so far, Paul's prayer thanking God for the riches of faith that has been granted to the churches of Corinth. Paul then went on to begin his discussion about the divisions in the Corinthian church that resulted from the various different expectations they had for how God would interact with humanity. Paul went on to say that the church's source of unity can only be found in the crucifixion of Christ, something no one expected. Today we will listen as Paul tells the Corinthians that the divisions in their churches have occurred because of a misunderstanding of what happens in worship. And so we will look at what does happen in worship. But before we begin all of this, please pray with me.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

NIV 1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. 6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

According to Paul worship is about God. Our focus should always be on God. And the proclamation we hear on Sunday should be testimony about God. We may want to talk about the weather, or the stock market, or about violence in Egypt. And these might be acceptable topics in worship as long as our primary concern is to discern what God is thinking about these things. Of course that leads to the question: how do we know what God thinks? Paul's tells us that the only way we can ever know what God is thinking is through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being God, knows exactly what God is thinking, and communicates the mind of to us. The Holy Spirit is something like a radio or smart phone that has a direct line to God. And whenever God communicates to us through the Holy Spirit the result is the creation of and the deepening of faith. So as our faith grows we know that we have been hearing from God through the Holy Spirit.

We come to worship in order to communicate with God through God's Spirit. It works this way. Whenever Jesus Christ is proclaimed, whenever the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is preached the Holy Spirit activates the communication channel between you and God. Worship is where the crucified Christ is proclaimed, and through this proclamation faith is formed in the congregation. This is good news for all of us preachers. Faith is formed not by what we say or how we say it, but by the Holy Spirit working through our proclamation. All preachers have to do is to proclaim the Christ cricified. This all points out the importance of worship. The reason we worship is to hear about God in Jesus Christ and to allow the Holy Spirit to help us communicate with God, and as we communicate with God our faith grows. But many people, including some church leaders, have too small a view of what worship is all about.

One common fallacy about worship is that it should be kept under control. As a highly trained religious professional I design worship each week, choosing songs to sing, putting together the order of worship, and preparing the sermon. I have every element of worship printed out and under plastic sheets in a notebook so that there will be no surprises. I even practice it a few times to make sure that I have left nothing out and everything will go smoothly. I do this so that there will be no unexpected surprises. But worship should be about surprises. If the Holy Spirit is truly at work in worship then we should expect unusual things to occur. But when was the last time any of us have said, “I have never seen that before in worship”?

When we started our early morning prayers we would do the same thing every day: call to worship, sing a song, responsive reading of a psalm, unison reading from scripture, a brief message followed by prayers for the church, community and world. But since last December I have tried something new. We still have a structure, but it is much looser. We read from a new prayer book. The time it takes to read from the prayerbook is much shorter that the half hour allocated. This leaves room for a lot of quiet time. Sometimes no one makes a sound. Sometimes someone prays out loud. Sometimes someone want to talk about the scripture we read. Every day is different. Every day is surprising. And I think we are really communicating with God through the Holy Spirit in this process.

Another fallacy about worship is that it has to be relevant. The mega churches are preoccupied with this. They believe that worship has to be adapted to suit the tastes of people you want to attract. In California I once attend the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. They had four worship services every Sunday morning. The first was contemplative, held in the chapel, and the pastors were dressed like monks. The second service featured a massive pipe organ, choir and a traditional service you would all find familiar. The third service was casual and had a small praise band. And the fourth service on Sunday was held in a warehouse near the church had the feel of a rock concert with the volume all the way up. They were trying to appeal to everyone in the community with different styles of worship. It is good to worship in a pleasing way, but if we go overboard in trying to meet all the expectation of people coming to church then we miss the really important expectation that God has for worship. God's expectation for worship is that we will focus of Jesus Christ, the son of God who died for our sins.

Another fallacy of worship is that the church must be popular. The church has to do something week after week just to keep people coming back. We have all heard of churches and television ministries that grew on the back of a charismatic leader. This could be a gifted preacher or talented musician. There was a church back in Eagle Rock California that exemplified this. There parking lot was too small, their building was nothing special, but they had a world renowned musician and song writer leading their music every Sunday. The church was packed for three services every week. But we have also heard of churches declining after their charismatic leader retires. Dr. Robert Schuler retired several years ago from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove CA. Last summer a much diminished church filed for bankruptcy. In a popular church people go home as say “I liked the sermon” or “I liked the music”. This is good. But it is more important for God to like our worship. And God likes worship that is focused on his son.

And that is why we have gathered around this table today. Communion is something we have done over and over again. But today expect something surprising will happen because the Holy Spirit is here and you never know what might happen when God's Spirit is present. No one is going to confuse this table with one in a fine restaurant. All we have is some bread and some grape juice, symbols of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A memorial meal for our risen Lord is never going to be the most popular thing happening in Pocomoke on Sunday mornings. But as we eat this bread and drink this juice remember that the Holy Spirit is present and this is your opportunity to communicate directly with God.

Lord Jesus, bless us as we gather around this table. Help us to remember your death and resurrection through this bread and wine. And send your Spirit so that we may eat in your presence to the glory of your Father. This we pray in your name. Amen.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Sermon - 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 – “Signs, Wisdom and Cross”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 – “Signs, Wisdom and Cross”
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
January 30, 2011

I am continuing today with our look at the book of First Corinthians. The Apostle Paul has heard disturbing news about things that are happening in the Corinthian churches. Factions have developed and now people are arguing with each other. These conflicts have developed to a point that a delegation from Corinth has been dispatches to Ephesus for a meeting with Paul to see what to do. Paul has decided to write a letter to the churches in response. And we are now looking at that letter. Two weeks ago we heard Paul reminding them and us how richly we have been blessed by God in our faith. Last week we heard how the Corinthian church was divided and this reminded us of the historic and contemporary divisions within in the Presbyterian Church USA. Today Paul will talk about the root cause of divisions within the church. According to Paul divisions and controversies in the church are caused by the differing expectations we have of how God interacts with humankind. We will get to all of this, but first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
First Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Everyone who comes to church has an expectation of how God interacts with humans. This expectation is shaped by our parents, schools, friends and of course churches. If everyone has the same expectation then there will be no conflict in the church. But if people in the church have different expectations for God's interaction with humanity then conflict abounds. We see this clearly in the Corinthian church.

The Corinthian church was very diverse. It had both Greeks and Jews as members. There were rich members and poor members. Members have come from many nations of the world. And they have come with different expectations for the interaction between God and us.

For example, there were Greeks in the church who believed that the world was a rational place. The sun rises and sets at regular interval. We are born, grow up, get old and die. If you put ice over a fire it melts into water and then turns to steam. The world is a logical place. As so it would be expected that God would reveal himself in this rational world. People with this world view would be attracted to a god who was incarnate as a man, Jesus. And these people would want to know about Jesus' life, what he did and especially what he taught. Jesus was God's way of giving us a rational order for our lives through his teaching on ethics. So these people would come to church to hear the moral teachings of Jesus and apply those teachings to their lives.

Other Greeks in the congregation had a slightly different world view. They agreed that
the world was rational, but this rational order of this was imposed upon the world by our minds. In other words we use reason to understand the world around us. By reason, we realize that the world we perceive with our senses in limited, finite, changeable and imperfect. It must therefore be just a representation of the actual world which is unlimited, infinite, unchanging and perfect. We perceive the world around us with our senses and understand with our minds the perfect reality it represents. God would interact with humankind on the level of human reason. These people would be looking for a god who would provide us with the organizing principle of the world. They were looking for someone who existed with God before the creation of the world, and was the source of the rational order we now perceive. So they would be attracted to a church that proclaims the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word of God made flesh, with God's Word being the organizing principle of the world.

Also in the Corinthian congregation were converted Jews, and they too came to the church with their expectations of how God would interact with humankind. Some the the Jewish converts would be looking for signs and miracles because that was the way God had appeared to their ancestors. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush that fire could not consume. God appeared in a tornado and chariot of fire. God appeared in the raising of a widow's son from the dead. So they would be attracted to a church that proclaimed Jesus as a miracle worker who fed five thousand people with just a few loaves of bread and a coupleof fish, who restored the blind to sight, and who raised Lazarus from the dead.

Other Jews were looking for a god who would interact with humanity through prophets proclaiming God's word. In centuries past prophets had proclaimed the destruction of Israel, the exile to Babylon, and the restoration of God's people to the holy land. In the turbulent times of the first century they were looking for a prophet who tell them how God would act to end the present age and bring about a glorious future. So they would be attracted to a church that proclaimed Jesus' teachings on God's ultimate judgment and restoration of the world.

All of these groups came together for Sunday worship in the Corinthian churches. They heard stories of Jesus the man, Jesus Christ the Word of God, Jesus the worker of miracles, and Jesus the prophet. And of course they argued with each other over doctrine, and formed factions that threatened to divide the church, something Christians have been doing ever since.

But the Apostle Paul has some good news for them and for us. You see, God's interaction with humanity came in a way that no one expected. No one, neither Greek nor Jew, saw this one coming. God came into the world in a surprising way. God came to us with Jesus' death on a cross. How can it be in a rational world that God would interact with humans in suffering and death? How can a perfect, unchanging, unlimited, infinite God suffer and die? How can a person who raised Lazarus from the dead not prevent his own death with a miracle? The prophet Elijah never died, but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind; so why did Jesus have to die? No one expected the cross. And yet that is exactly what happened. God came to earth to interact with us and suffered and died on a cross. Those who expected God to come in the rational world saw no rational order in his death. Those who expected God to come as the organizing principle of the world never expected a physical, humiliating death. Those who expected a miracle worker never expected that miracle worker would die. Those who expected a prophet never expected his voice to be silenced by death. Everyone was surprised by what really happened.

And so God demonstrate the limitations of human wisdom and miraculous signs. God showed us that we have at best a feeble understanding of the world around us. Our expectations of how God interacts with humanity were too small, and too human oriented. So we must humbly remember that we don't know enough about God to expect anything. And only then we can receive what God offers us.

This is the source of unity in the church. We are united only when we realize that our expectations about God and how God interacts with humanity are flawed, and that these flawed expectations of God have led to our disagreement and divisions. Then we can humbly approach one another reconciled by a cross which unites all of us in our salvation in Jesus Christ.

So the next time you are preparing for a meeting with fellow Christians to discuss a controversial topic, and you are preparing the scriptural references and theological arguments that support your side remember that you might be relying on your own flawed expectation of how God interacts with humanity. Reconsider what you believe in the context of the sacrifice that Jesus made for you on the cross. Remember the grace and forgiveness that you have received from God. And humbly offer that grace to those who disagree with you thus reconciling with one another in the light of God's love.

Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you in gratitude for your son's sacrifice on the cross. We never expected you to come to us in suffering and death. But now we are so thankful for the love you showed us though this act. And we pledge to love others as well. Amen.