Out Of The Box
Sermon
Deformed, Disfigured, And Despised
First Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter Cycle C
Why do some people always want to put Christians into a tight little box? Why should we limit the gospel to people who have heard it all before? Why shouldn't we take the gospel beyond the four walls of the church to people who don't look like us, walk like us, talk like us, or share our views? Why must we always talk to the people who think like we think and do as we do? Why doesn't our conversation and proclamation go forth to people who need to be converted to Christ? It is true that people in the church need to be converted, but what about those people in those neighborhoods, environments, and conditions who are beyond our reach but who need to hear the Good News of Christ?
Peter was confronted with the dilemma of "preaching to the choir" or taking the message beyond the boundaries and comfort zones believers had established for their close-knit circle. The gospel message was intended for all people and all nations, not just a select few who are part of the spiritual inner clique.
What we have in the church today is a kind of spiritual incest, where we have inbred a message of hope only for those with whom we feel comfortable. We don't need zoned churches and zoned Christians -- comfort zone, safe zone, and no zone. What we need are churches and messengers who will go beyond the conventional boundaries and safe havens we have carved out for ourselves! It is here that the message of God is extended into territories and terrain heretofore unexplored.
When asked why he served a poor black parish in the inner city, a white pastor said, "Because God calls me to bring the Good News to places where I wouldn't ordinarily go!"
It is true that humankind has an affinity for those people, places, and things with which it feels it holds the most in common. Human beings are tribal and clannish by nature. We fix ourselves in groups that reinforce our identity, safety, and comfort. We gravitate least towards those who threaten our sense of well being, make us insecure, and rattle our sense of purpose in life. We live and think and act and coexist in community with those we believe share our values and views.
The question is: Would we have the message of love and hope of Christ if Christ had stayed within the confines of his hometown? Would we be believers if those early proponents of the gospel had played it safe and never brought the Good News to people who were different?
A great tragedy today is the spiritual waste and atrophy of churches. Churches die. Churches are closed because they do not reach out to people in the surrounding neighborhoods because "those people" don't think like us or smell like us or share our views. Churches die each day because believers refuse to reach out to people who are different.
Peter was criticized for breaking bread with Gentiles, but he refused to apologize for the power and workings of God and the Holy Ghost in his life. He refused to bow to the practice self-aggrandizing idolatry, where my way of thinking is the only valid way, where my way of doing things is the only true and acceptable way. Peter refused to give in to the tyrannical forces of self-congratulation and the gospel of me-ism that is only for us. So he reached out to the Gentiles. He reached out to non-believers. He reached out to the blind, deaf, dumb, and lame. He preached the word without apology and with authority, but there were those who wanted to limit the purview of his message and his audience. The word was that they wanted him to preach only to "this" people and not to "those" people. They wanted him to limit the Good News only to those that they deemed worthy of the message.
How often do we play these games in God's church? Do we have our favorite people that we are only in mission to? Why don't more white churches have black parishioners? Why don't more black churches have white parishioners? Why don't rich churches have more poor people? Why don't more poor churches have rich people?
There is the fable of the church who placed a "for members only" sign on their front lawn. No one was ever invited to attend the church. If strangers showed up for service they were harshly turned away and discouraged from ever coming again. As the congregation aged, members began to die until finally the last three members posted a notice in the obituary column which read: Dead. Forty-five-year-old, middle-class church that once had 200 members. Address: 1888 Temple Street. Cause of death: unfriendliness towards strangers, for-members-only attitude, disdain for all people who weren't our kind of people. God forgive us for the sin of selfishness.
Peter and the apostles believed that what they had was too good to keep and that Christ did not call them to keep the Good News to themselves but to share a message of joy and hope with all people. This meant people with whom they had the least in common!
What about you and your church? Do you have an open door policy of whosoever will let him or her come? Is your church for members only? Is it a country club, a private club, where only certain people are accepted and wanted? Is the gospel preached from your pulpit a message for all people for all time or only for white people, black people, Asian people, or other kinds of people? Are you preaching to the Gentiles, the unsaved, the unredeemed, and the unforgiving and unforgiven? Have you taken the message of Christ into danger zones and others zones, or are you staying within your comfort zone?
Did Christ stay in his comfort zone? Was his ministry a comfort zone? Were the cross and crucifixion comfort zones? Were his death and resurrection places of safety and comfort? Or are you preaching a message that everybody can hear where entire households can be saved and redeemed?
Peter and the apostles refused to remain in the box that others wanted them to stay in. Peter came out of the box to bring a message of love, power, and justice to people who didn't share his views which included Jews and Gentiles.
That's what the church needs to do today. It needs to come out of the box. The box of spiritual confinement. The box of safety and comfort. The boxes of me-ism, my-ism, racism, classism, sexism and other isms. The church should come out of the box of prejudice, traditionalism, denominationalism and other boxes that stymie and stagnate the flow and presence of the Holy Ghost! You cannot put the gospel of love in a box, take it home, and hide it under your bed. You can't put the Father in a box, the Son in a box, and the Holy Ghost in a box! The Father sent the Son so we can get out of the box of sin, hatred, non-forgiveness, and other things that put us in the box in the first place. We are called to come out of the box of spiritual limitation and solitary confinement. We are called to spread the Good News of Christ to all people and not simply stay within the nice, neat little boxes we have fixed for ourselves or that others have forced us into.
Peter and the apostles refused to stay in the box. Paul refused to stay in his box. Even if Jack refuses to stay in his box, why do Christians want to stay in their boxes? Christ was crucified and resurrected so that we could come out of the box.
Jesus refused to allow hatred, prejudice, class, race, age, ethnicity, money, power, influence, sickness, affliction, trouble, sorrow, pain, or death to keep him in a box. Jesus came and died and rose so that we would come out of the box. The box of narrow-mindedness and provincial thinking, the box of limited vision and opportunity and the box of the seven last words, "We never did it that way before," all kill the forward movement of the spirit's power and presence. Jesus calls us to come out of the box. The empty box is the empty tomb. Jesus is out of the box and we as disciples of Christ should come out of the box too!
When Peter saw how the Holy Ghost had come, his mission to the Gentiles was confirmed. Peter knew he had the presence and power of the Holy Ghost which emboldened him to come out of the box others tried to force him into. This is our commission, to go into the world to preach, teach, and reach others for Christ; to come out of the our little boxes to spread the Good News of Christ. We can do it when the Holy Ghost comes upon us. When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, we can come out of the box. We no longer have to allow things to box us in and keep us from taking a message of hope to all people. Come out of your box and give him the glory!
Peter was confronted with the dilemma of "preaching to the choir" or taking the message beyond the boundaries and comfort zones believers had established for their close-knit circle. The gospel message was intended for all people and all nations, not just a select few who are part of the spiritual inner clique.
What we have in the church today is a kind of spiritual incest, where we have inbred a message of hope only for those with whom we feel comfortable. We don't need zoned churches and zoned Christians -- comfort zone, safe zone, and no zone. What we need are churches and messengers who will go beyond the conventional boundaries and safe havens we have carved out for ourselves! It is here that the message of God is extended into territories and terrain heretofore unexplored.
When asked why he served a poor black parish in the inner city, a white pastor said, "Because God calls me to bring the Good News to places where I wouldn't ordinarily go!"
It is true that humankind has an affinity for those people, places, and things with which it feels it holds the most in common. Human beings are tribal and clannish by nature. We fix ourselves in groups that reinforce our identity, safety, and comfort. We gravitate least towards those who threaten our sense of well being, make us insecure, and rattle our sense of purpose in life. We live and think and act and coexist in community with those we believe share our values and views.
The question is: Would we have the message of love and hope of Christ if Christ had stayed within the confines of his hometown? Would we be believers if those early proponents of the gospel had played it safe and never brought the Good News to people who were different?
A great tragedy today is the spiritual waste and atrophy of churches. Churches die. Churches are closed because they do not reach out to people in the surrounding neighborhoods because "those people" don't think like us or smell like us or share our views. Churches die each day because believers refuse to reach out to people who are different.
Peter was criticized for breaking bread with Gentiles, but he refused to apologize for the power and workings of God and the Holy Ghost in his life. He refused to bow to the practice self-aggrandizing idolatry, where my way of thinking is the only valid way, where my way of doing things is the only true and acceptable way. Peter refused to give in to the tyrannical forces of self-congratulation and the gospel of me-ism that is only for us. So he reached out to the Gentiles. He reached out to non-believers. He reached out to the blind, deaf, dumb, and lame. He preached the word without apology and with authority, but there were those who wanted to limit the purview of his message and his audience. The word was that they wanted him to preach only to "this" people and not to "those" people. They wanted him to limit the Good News only to those that they deemed worthy of the message.
How often do we play these games in God's church? Do we have our favorite people that we are only in mission to? Why don't more white churches have black parishioners? Why don't more black churches have white parishioners? Why don't rich churches have more poor people? Why don't more poor churches have rich people?
There is the fable of the church who placed a "for members only" sign on their front lawn. No one was ever invited to attend the church. If strangers showed up for service they were harshly turned away and discouraged from ever coming again. As the congregation aged, members began to die until finally the last three members posted a notice in the obituary column which read: Dead. Forty-five-year-old, middle-class church that once had 200 members. Address: 1888 Temple Street. Cause of death: unfriendliness towards strangers, for-members-only attitude, disdain for all people who weren't our kind of people. God forgive us for the sin of selfishness.
Peter and the apostles believed that what they had was too good to keep and that Christ did not call them to keep the Good News to themselves but to share a message of joy and hope with all people. This meant people with whom they had the least in common!
What about you and your church? Do you have an open door policy of whosoever will let him or her come? Is your church for members only? Is it a country club, a private club, where only certain people are accepted and wanted? Is the gospel preached from your pulpit a message for all people for all time or only for white people, black people, Asian people, or other kinds of people? Are you preaching to the Gentiles, the unsaved, the unredeemed, and the unforgiving and unforgiven? Have you taken the message of Christ into danger zones and others zones, or are you staying within your comfort zone?
Did Christ stay in his comfort zone? Was his ministry a comfort zone? Were the cross and crucifixion comfort zones? Were his death and resurrection places of safety and comfort? Or are you preaching a message that everybody can hear where entire households can be saved and redeemed?
Peter and the apostles refused to remain in the box that others wanted them to stay in. Peter came out of the box to bring a message of love, power, and justice to people who didn't share his views which included Jews and Gentiles.
That's what the church needs to do today. It needs to come out of the box. The box of spiritual confinement. The box of safety and comfort. The boxes of me-ism, my-ism, racism, classism, sexism and other isms. The church should come out of the box of prejudice, traditionalism, denominationalism and other boxes that stymie and stagnate the flow and presence of the Holy Ghost! You cannot put the gospel of love in a box, take it home, and hide it under your bed. You can't put the Father in a box, the Son in a box, and the Holy Ghost in a box! The Father sent the Son so we can get out of the box of sin, hatred, non-forgiveness, and other things that put us in the box in the first place. We are called to come out of the box of spiritual limitation and solitary confinement. We are called to spread the Good News of Christ to all people and not simply stay within the nice, neat little boxes we have fixed for ourselves or that others have forced us into.
Peter and the apostles refused to stay in the box. Paul refused to stay in his box. Even if Jack refuses to stay in his box, why do Christians want to stay in their boxes? Christ was crucified and resurrected so that we could come out of the box.
Jesus refused to allow hatred, prejudice, class, race, age, ethnicity, money, power, influence, sickness, affliction, trouble, sorrow, pain, or death to keep him in a box. Jesus came and died and rose so that we would come out of the box. The box of narrow-mindedness and provincial thinking, the box of limited vision and opportunity and the box of the seven last words, "We never did it that way before," all kill the forward movement of the spirit's power and presence. Jesus calls us to come out of the box. The empty box is the empty tomb. Jesus is out of the box and we as disciples of Christ should come out of the box too!
When Peter saw how the Holy Ghost had come, his mission to the Gentiles was confirmed. Peter knew he had the presence and power of the Holy Ghost which emboldened him to come out of the box others tried to force him into. This is our commission, to go into the world to preach, teach, and reach others for Christ; to come out of the our little boxes to spread the Good News of Christ. We can do it when the Holy Ghost comes upon us. When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, we can come out of the box. We no longer have to allow things to box us in and keep us from taking a message of hope to all people. Come out of your box and give him the glory!
