What Is the Point?
Sermon
The View from the Cross
Cycle B Gospel Text Sermons for Lent and Easter
Object:
What is the purpose of the church? Why was it established? What is the purpose against which we should measure everything we do?
Read: Luke 24:36-49.
One of the single most important things we need to notice in our reading this morning is what was the first matter of concern that Jesus dealt with when he was with his disciples following his resurrection. It was that Jesus felt the need to help them better understand that he had really been resurrected. Not only did he stand in their presence so they could see him and his wounds but he also ate food in front of them to show that he was not a ghost.
The second major item was helping them to better understand that all the things written about him in the Hebrew scriptures about the Messiah were accurate. The Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms were all familiar to the disciples and Jesus showed them from different parts of these writings that he is the Messiah and that he must suffer and rise from the dead. Because of his death and resurrection, the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins could now be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. This in fact became the outline for Luke in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
Finally in our closing verses to our reading Jesus commanded the disciples to remain in the city of Jerusalem until they had received power from on high, which was a clear reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit who had been promised.
So it seems quite clear from this passage that the mission Jesus left with his disciples was to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name. The purpose assigned to his disciples, and ultimately the church, was to tell all of God's children that there was a better way to live a faithful life than the way the world had been teaching them. That way was, and is, the way of Jesus Christ.
It is really important that we remember and put into some kind of proper context just how the church developed following those early beginnings. In the first century, following the birth of the early church, there was an excitement and there was energy as Christians found their voice in the world. Those early Christians faced an often-hostile world with a real sense of hope that the people of the world would find what they had found in Jesus Christ. The church was vibrant and alive with purpose. The church was directed and focused and the church grew by leaps and bounds as people came to understand the message Jesus had left with his followers.
I guess I do not have to tell you that we no longer see that kind of growth in the church today. Far too many people think the church has little purpose in society today. The church is seen by many as a good place for a wedding, funeral, or the occasional baptism, but not for much else. We need to at least ask why in the world would anyone attend church today on a regular basis. Many believe that the church, by way of its teachings, serves to impose a narrow-minded intolerance upon people. The sad fact is that far too many people in the church are seen as an institution against things, instead of a body of believers that are for positive growth and positive ideas for the future.
When the world asks the question of the church, "What's the point?" many do not find a satisfactory answer. That is why it is imperative that we work our way through Lent and Easter and try to remember what it was that got people so excited, so dedicated, so spirit-filled. Taking the time to look into the answer will enable twenty-first-century Christians to at least be able to look at the questions in an objective way. One of the answers found in our gospel lesson for today is that what we need to say and do is to "share a message!" The message is that Jesus Christ lived and died so that humankind might know God and be assured of eternity! We have a purpose: to share the message of Christ!
Before the message can be shared there are things that need to be done. We have to make sure the message is clear and easily understood. Jesus told the eleven disciples that everything that had been written about him had to be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds so they could understand what he was talking about. The scriptures contained a clear message about what was to happen to Jesus: Jesus would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. It is here in the middle of their own confusion and pain that Jesus steps back into their lives and tells them what they need to do, not necessarily what they want to hear.
Sometimes I wonder how many people truly understand the message and its implications for them today. Jesus showed the disciples that you didn't have to be rich to enjoy life. He showed them you didn't have to be part of the cultural elite to make a difference. He showed them how to live a life that was full and meaningful. And as the resurrected Jesus stood in front of them, he showed them that not even death could hold him. Jesus brought a message of life.
In order to share a message those sharing must first have their minds opened to understand that message themselves. They not only have to accept the message they must also find a way to share that message to all who will listen.
Jesus said that "repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name." The Greek word translated "preached" is a word that would refer to a town crier, someone who announced the news like a Paul Revere type of person. The word means quite literally, "to proclaim." It seems God's strategy for sharing the message was for people to proclaim it. In order for the message to be shared, people must understand the message and the strategy for sharing it; then, with clear purpose in mind, they must proclaim the message.
No matter what you may think of Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses you must commend them for going out every day of every week, door to door, sharing their message. Again whether you agree or disagree with their message, they do at least know what their message is. Sadly that cannot be said for many in the church today.
The church has a message that can change people's lives. Our purpose is to share that message of God's love, in order to make a difference in the lives of those who hear it. But we're doing a poor job of sharing the message. If I were to ask how many of you within the last year shared with someone how they could have a relationship with God and eternal life there would probably be very few hands raised. If I were to extend that to the last five years the result would probably not be much different. The sad truth is that for the great majority of those who count themselves as Christians, they have never shared that fact with anyone else. Those around them don't even know of their faith.
Many of our comic book heroes do the work of being a hero by keeping a very low profile. They have costumes that combined with the elements make them almost invisible. Heroes like Batman do their best work in the dark. They use the shadows and darkness as a shield that keeps them out of harm's way. Spiderman can seemingly travel throughout the city, clinging to the sides of enormous buildings without giving himself away. They are, for lack of a better term, "stealth" heroes. Everything they do they do for good, but they don't want to talk about it. Sadly that describes many people's faith. Many people have a stealth faith. Radar can't even pick it up. And no one around them knows they're Christians.
In a variety of ways my sermons over the weeks in Lent and now Easter have spoken to you on the subject of God's sovereignty. It is no accident that you are part of the family of which you are a part, it is no accident that you work where you work or that you have the friends you have. If you are a Christian, in God's sovereignty, God has established a relationship with you and now God wants you to share with those around you the news of God's gift of life through Jesus Christ. That is the purpose for which God created you.
Proclaiming that message is the mission of the church.
Again, in order for the message to be shared, the message has to be understood. To be able to share that message in ways that make it clear, the people who are sharing that message must first find the power to properly communicate what needs to be said and what needs to be heard. Jesus told his disciples to stay in the city until they received the power from "on high." When the disciples began to share the message of life through Jesus Christ, they had incredible results. There were days when they saw thousands of people accept the message and establish a relationship with Jesus. But before they began sharing the message, God empowered them with his Holy Spirit. God's Spirit not only empowered the message they shared, the Spirit of God empowered their lives as well. When people saw the way the disciples lived, they saw proof of the message the disciples shared. The Spirit of God gave the disciples the courage they needed to speak. And it was that same Spirit of God that made them compassionate toward those in need, content with what they had. It was this same Spirit that made them people of the greatest integrity, people who sought after God, people who wanted to know and understand God and God's ways. It was this same Spirit that made them people who lived their lives by God's rule and found the greatest fulfillment because they followed God.
One of the most fun things I remember doing was driving a 1968 Corvette. One of my parishioners in a former parish owned a really beautiful "'68 Vet." Driving that car was sort of a dream come true for me. If I could have any car in the world I would want a Corvette. It's a guy thing, I think. But I think your car says something about you. What you drive says something about you. A Corvette says you're just plain cool. I drive a Kia, oh well!
But suppose someone gave me a free Corvette and I couldn't afford to put gas in it. Gas is what fuels the car. Without gas the car has no power. Without gas it sits in the driveway and no one ever knows how cool the owner is.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit of God, your faith will grow weak. God gives you the Spirit when you enter into that special relationship with him. The Spirit of God helps direct the way you live and respond to the world in which you live. When the human side of you says to get angry, the Spirit of God says to show compassion. When you look out only for yourself it is the Spirit of God that tells you, "Put others first." We must submit ourselves to the leading of God's Holy Spirit first. When God calls, we must listen and then respond.
The Spirit of God is the power by which we will have lives so full that others will fall all over themselves to find out what makes our lives different. They will want to hear about our faith. But without the spirit of God your faith is just sitting in the driveway. It's going nowhere.
Without the Spirit of God to make us bold, we will never share the message that others so desperately need to hear.
Sisters and brothers in Christ we really do have a purpose. Our gospel lesson tells us to share that message with others. That message is that Jesus came and lived, died, and rose from the dead so that we might have life in all its abundance.
We must understand that God's strategy is for each of us to share that message with those who will hear what we have to say. Finally we must be submitted to God's Holy Spirit so that our lives will reflect the fullness that God offers and so that we will be courageous enough to share the message with others.
Our prime directive as individuals and as a church is to be sharing the message of life in Christ with a lost world. As a church, it is our purpose and everything we do must be measured by it. Amen.
Read: Luke 24:36-49.
One of the single most important things we need to notice in our reading this morning is what was the first matter of concern that Jesus dealt with when he was with his disciples following his resurrection. It was that Jesus felt the need to help them better understand that he had really been resurrected. Not only did he stand in their presence so they could see him and his wounds but he also ate food in front of them to show that he was not a ghost.
The second major item was helping them to better understand that all the things written about him in the Hebrew scriptures about the Messiah were accurate. The Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms were all familiar to the disciples and Jesus showed them from different parts of these writings that he is the Messiah and that he must suffer and rise from the dead. Because of his death and resurrection, the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins could now be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. This in fact became the outline for Luke in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
Finally in our closing verses to our reading Jesus commanded the disciples to remain in the city of Jerusalem until they had received power from on high, which was a clear reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit who had been promised.
So it seems quite clear from this passage that the mission Jesus left with his disciples was to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name. The purpose assigned to his disciples, and ultimately the church, was to tell all of God's children that there was a better way to live a faithful life than the way the world had been teaching them. That way was, and is, the way of Jesus Christ.
It is really important that we remember and put into some kind of proper context just how the church developed following those early beginnings. In the first century, following the birth of the early church, there was an excitement and there was energy as Christians found their voice in the world. Those early Christians faced an often-hostile world with a real sense of hope that the people of the world would find what they had found in Jesus Christ. The church was vibrant and alive with purpose. The church was directed and focused and the church grew by leaps and bounds as people came to understand the message Jesus had left with his followers.
I guess I do not have to tell you that we no longer see that kind of growth in the church today. Far too many people think the church has little purpose in society today. The church is seen by many as a good place for a wedding, funeral, or the occasional baptism, but not for much else. We need to at least ask why in the world would anyone attend church today on a regular basis. Many believe that the church, by way of its teachings, serves to impose a narrow-minded intolerance upon people. The sad fact is that far too many people in the church are seen as an institution against things, instead of a body of believers that are for positive growth and positive ideas for the future.
When the world asks the question of the church, "What's the point?" many do not find a satisfactory answer. That is why it is imperative that we work our way through Lent and Easter and try to remember what it was that got people so excited, so dedicated, so spirit-filled. Taking the time to look into the answer will enable twenty-first-century Christians to at least be able to look at the questions in an objective way. One of the answers found in our gospel lesson for today is that what we need to say and do is to "share a message!" The message is that Jesus Christ lived and died so that humankind might know God and be assured of eternity! We have a purpose: to share the message of Christ!
Before the message can be shared there are things that need to be done. We have to make sure the message is clear and easily understood. Jesus told the eleven disciples that everything that had been written about him had to be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds so they could understand what he was talking about. The scriptures contained a clear message about what was to happen to Jesus: Jesus would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. It is here in the middle of their own confusion and pain that Jesus steps back into their lives and tells them what they need to do, not necessarily what they want to hear.
Sometimes I wonder how many people truly understand the message and its implications for them today. Jesus showed the disciples that you didn't have to be rich to enjoy life. He showed them you didn't have to be part of the cultural elite to make a difference. He showed them how to live a life that was full and meaningful. And as the resurrected Jesus stood in front of them, he showed them that not even death could hold him. Jesus brought a message of life.
In order to share a message those sharing must first have their minds opened to understand that message themselves. They not only have to accept the message they must also find a way to share that message to all who will listen.
Jesus said that "repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name." The Greek word translated "preached" is a word that would refer to a town crier, someone who announced the news like a Paul Revere type of person. The word means quite literally, "to proclaim." It seems God's strategy for sharing the message was for people to proclaim it. In order for the message to be shared, people must understand the message and the strategy for sharing it; then, with clear purpose in mind, they must proclaim the message.
No matter what you may think of Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses you must commend them for going out every day of every week, door to door, sharing their message. Again whether you agree or disagree with their message, they do at least know what their message is. Sadly that cannot be said for many in the church today.
The church has a message that can change people's lives. Our purpose is to share that message of God's love, in order to make a difference in the lives of those who hear it. But we're doing a poor job of sharing the message. If I were to ask how many of you within the last year shared with someone how they could have a relationship with God and eternal life there would probably be very few hands raised. If I were to extend that to the last five years the result would probably not be much different. The sad truth is that for the great majority of those who count themselves as Christians, they have never shared that fact with anyone else. Those around them don't even know of their faith.
Many of our comic book heroes do the work of being a hero by keeping a very low profile. They have costumes that combined with the elements make them almost invisible. Heroes like Batman do their best work in the dark. They use the shadows and darkness as a shield that keeps them out of harm's way. Spiderman can seemingly travel throughout the city, clinging to the sides of enormous buildings without giving himself away. They are, for lack of a better term, "stealth" heroes. Everything they do they do for good, but they don't want to talk about it. Sadly that describes many people's faith. Many people have a stealth faith. Radar can't even pick it up. And no one around them knows they're Christians.
In a variety of ways my sermons over the weeks in Lent and now Easter have spoken to you on the subject of God's sovereignty. It is no accident that you are part of the family of which you are a part, it is no accident that you work where you work or that you have the friends you have. If you are a Christian, in God's sovereignty, God has established a relationship with you and now God wants you to share with those around you the news of God's gift of life through Jesus Christ. That is the purpose for which God created you.
Proclaiming that message is the mission of the church.
Again, in order for the message to be shared, the message has to be understood. To be able to share that message in ways that make it clear, the people who are sharing that message must first find the power to properly communicate what needs to be said and what needs to be heard. Jesus told his disciples to stay in the city until they received the power from "on high." When the disciples began to share the message of life through Jesus Christ, they had incredible results. There were days when they saw thousands of people accept the message and establish a relationship with Jesus. But before they began sharing the message, God empowered them with his Holy Spirit. God's Spirit not only empowered the message they shared, the Spirit of God empowered their lives as well. When people saw the way the disciples lived, they saw proof of the message the disciples shared. The Spirit of God gave the disciples the courage they needed to speak. And it was that same Spirit of God that made them compassionate toward those in need, content with what they had. It was this same Spirit that made them people of the greatest integrity, people who sought after God, people who wanted to know and understand God and God's ways. It was this same Spirit that made them people who lived their lives by God's rule and found the greatest fulfillment because they followed God.
One of the most fun things I remember doing was driving a 1968 Corvette. One of my parishioners in a former parish owned a really beautiful "'68 Vet." Driving that car was sort of a dream come true for me. If I could have any car in the world I would want a Corvette. It's a guy thing, I think. But I think your car says something about you. What you drive says something about you. A Corvette says you're just plain cool. I drive a Kia, oh well!
But suppose someone gave me a free Corvette and I couldn't afford to put gas in it. Gas is what fuels the car. Without gas the car has no power. Without gas it sits in the driveway and no one ever knows how cool the owner is.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit of God, your faith will grow weak. God gives you the Spirit when you enter into that special relationship with him. The Spirit of God helps direct the way you live and respond to the world in which you live. When the human side of you says to get angry, the Spirit of God says to show compassion. When you look out only for yourself it is the Spirit of God that tells you, "Put others first." We must submit ourselves to the leading of God's Holy Spirit first. When God calls, we must listen and then respond.
The Spirit of God is the power by which we will have lives so full that others will fall all over themselves to find out what makes our lives different. They will want to hear about our faith. But without the spirit of God your faith is just sitting in the driveway. It's going nowhere.
Without the Spirit of God to make us bold, we will never share the message that others so desperately need to hear.
Sisters and brothers in Christ we really do have a purpose. Our gospel lesson tells us to share that message with others. That message is that Jesus came and lived, died, and rose from the dead so that we might have life in all its abundance.
We must understand that God's strategy is for each of us to share that message with those who will hear what we have to say. Finally we must be submitted to God's Holy Spirit so that our lives will reflect the fullness that God offers and so that we will be courageous enough to share the message with others.
Our prime directive as individuals and as a church is to be sharing the message of life in Christ with a lost world. As a church, it is our purpose and everything we do must be measured by it. Amen.
