Click to hear this sermon sermon080106

It seems to me that the job of helping the church to grow into that which God wants it to become is mainly a job of not getting in God's way.

"God's Promise for Renewal: Choose Life Over Death"             Jack Keating

Cicero United Methodist Church January 6, 2008.

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            It seems to me that the job of helping the church to grow into that which God wants it to become is mainly a job of not getting in God's way. Let me give you an example.

            Some time ago now, in our United Methodist Church, there was a movement afoot called "Quest for Quality". During that time one of our Bishops spoke to the pastor and three lay leaders from each of the churches in his Annual Conference. The meeting was about a new paradigm for the church.

            The old paradigm, said the Bishop, is that we have been focusing on problems. If we don't have enough money we focus on stewardship. If we don't have enough people we focus on membership drives.

            The new paradigm, the bishop said, "is to make sure the main thing is the main thing." The main thing for the church is spiritual growth, nurture, and scripture reading; not meetings, money, membership, or even (and I hate to say this) doing justice. The bishop believed that if we take care of the main thing, feeding people spiritually, then they will be able to take care of everything else.

            According to this paradigm, the important thing to understand about the main thing is the flow. The flow is circular. People come into the church where they ought to be fed and nurtured spiritually, through prayer, Bible Study; and then they go out into the world to do their ministry to their family and work place. Then they come back to church bringing others with them and the cycle starts again.

            I think that the bishop was right. We in the church all too often focus on the wrong things - both in our life together as a community or family of believers, and in our lives as individuals within the larger world.

            So this morning I'd like to look at 6 different Dream Killers and God Stoppers that are sure to derail the success of any church or person in their desire to choose life over death. And I'll also suggest ways that those thoughts can be turned around.

            FIRST --- "It Will Never Work." You know the attitude ... maybe you've adopted it one time or another yourself. Whenever the opportunity arises you fall into the trap of only seeing a glass that's half empty. And this way of thinking begins to gather steam like some giant snowball rolling down hill. Suddenly nothing will ever work and your frustration level grows by leaps and bounds. But the answer to this "It Will Never Work" attitude is to adopt the attitude that "With God's Help It Will Work." If God is behind the effort, if the new idea has come about because of God's prodding during prayer, if the idea brings glory to God's name and not our own, believe that God will bless the effort and it will work! A church that's full of life refuses to let a defeatist attitude rule the day.

            SECOND --- And then there's the famous "Seven Last Words of the Church" ... "We've Never Done It That Way Before." This is the attitude that attempts to stop growth because a new way of doing something is being suggested. Now while there is certainly something great to be said for tradition, when it interferes with our ministry the attitude needs to change. A growing church, choosing life over death realizes that "God Works In a Variety Of Different Ways." A church full of life spends time looking to see where God is active ... without limiting God only to what God has done in the past. God is still working, speaking, moving, encouraging, and motivating His people to even greater heights. Just because an idea hasn't been tried yet, doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried at all. If that were the case my friends ... Mr. Wesley would have just kept smiling and we'd all be Anglican's today!

            THIRD --- The third God Stopper heard in church's without life is "We Can't Afford It." You see money is one of those pivotal areas in which our faith can most easily be tested. Churches in the process of dying seem to boil every decision about their ministry down to "how much will it cost?" Or maybe more accurately said it should be ... "It'll cost how much???" Decisions about staffing, new ministries, new opportunities for spiritual growth, and nurture revolve around money. But the reality is "We Can't Afford It, but God Can." When churches choosing life over death begin new ministry opportunities they are always supported. The funds come from somewhere ... and that somewhere is the hand of God. God's finances are only limited by the openness of our hearts and our wallets and when God wants life to happen the support appears.

            FOURTH --- The fourth attitude that can lead a church toward death is the idea that "We're Not Ready For It." The time just isn't right now or maybe in the future that could work. Our plates are too full already, we're stretched in too many directions right now or we're so over committed now! We just can't do that now ... maybe later. But the remedy for that attitude is to remember that "If We Wait Until We're Ready, We'll Never Be Ready. Besides, God Is Ready." I remember someone telling Becky and me when we were talking about starting our family and the fact that we wanted to wait until we were ready for kids that if that was how we felt, we'd probably never have children. In most circumstances, if we insist on waiting until we're ready, things just might not happen. But in the life of a growing, thriving church God is always ready!

            FIFTH --- In churches that are choosing life over death you'll never hear the words "Trying New Ways Is Too Risky." Sure there is always risk involved with new things and ways. There's the risk of failure, the risk of ridicule, the risk of exposing our inadequacies and the risk of making things worse. But to remedy that, churches choosing life realize that "Trying New Ways with God Is Exciting." Vital growing, living churches relish the excitement of trying new things with God. They marvel at God's workings, they rejoice in God's ways, and they celebrate in God's victory over death and despair.

            And finally, SIXTH --- The words of the impending death rattle in the church on it's way toward dying are "We're Doing The Best We Can.And the reason this spells out impending disaster is because people are trying to do God's work for God. The remedy here is to understand that "We'll Do Better When We Let God Do It." Churches that are choosing life over death let God lead. They are not pastor-led, lay people-led, or District Superintendent-led. They are led by God himself. The folks in the church realize that God is perfectly capable of leading God's church and they let God do so. Churches choosing life follow the example of Christ and led the Holy Spirit run the ministry.

            All that's quite a challenge isn't it? A challenge to a different way of doing and seeing things. A different way of dealing with problems and worries that face us a church and as individuals.

            John Wesley used to ask his people on a regular basis: "What's the state of your soul?" And while it's a great question, it's not one that asked much anymore. We get so busy with our meetings and worrying about money and about human resources that we slip into the trap of not worrying about the main thing. Our actions, our behavior, our words end up working against us and we inadvertently start down the path toward the death of the very church we love so much.

            And in our own lives and homes - outside the church - we fail to choose life as well. We not only don't walk the walk, we often don't even talk the talk - reserving it all, as it were, to Sunday mornings.

            But I would suggest that the church that chooses life over death realizes that an awful lot more ministry gets done on Monday through Saturday ... than on Sunday morning. God, you see, does not limit himself to a Sunday morning Deity.

            Throughout his writings, the apostle Paul was rather fond of sports images, of images taken from the World Games of his day. In 1 Corinthians - chapter 9 - Paul writes:

            "Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I discipline my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified."

            I think of 5 simple things that can help us discipline our spiritual life - and bring us closer to winning the prize of our calling in God. Five things that can help any church choose life over death. And five things that can help each of us as individuals to choose life over death.

            FIRST - Recognize your strengths and virtues - but resist complacency. There is nothing positive in thinking that you are devoid of good. But there is danger is being satisfied with the degree of goodness and closeness you have with God today. God can always make you more like Christ than you are right now.

            SECOND - Accept the need to work and struggle spiritually. Salvation is a free gift. But a vital, intimate relationship with God does not come effortlessly. No relationship does. Athletes know their abilities. They also know that they need to work to keep their abilities up to snuff - let alone to improve them.

            THIRD - Study the Bible - especially the gospels. We can't be more like Christ if we really don't know what he was like. Meditate on how the scriptures show Jesus dealing with life. Pay attention to his priorities, to his conflicts, to his actions, and to his teachings. Let these things be used by God in your life to challenge your thinking - to test how you do things. Every athlete studies the techniques of those who are better then him or her so that they might improve themselves.

            FOURTH - Continue in prayer. Confess the failings of your life and open your life to the transforming power of God. Don't forget to listen as well as talk. In prayer face the reality of whose you are and learn to submit yourself to God's purpose for you. Let God show you the direction you should run in - the path you should take. Athletes have their coaches to show then what to do and how to go about doing it. They don't ignore them. Nor should we ignore ours.

            And FIFTH - Don't fear change. Change is the name of the game. We need to change. When we are open to God not only will we change - but things around us will change. Growth is the process of changing - and that process is not always pain free. If you notice in the middle of the word growth is the word OW. There are some things we will have to give up. There are some people who will turn on us. Let it happen. What we will receive in their place is far better.

            My friends - what we regard here today in the church and in our personal lives as a problem is really an opportunity and a challenge- an opportunity to choose life over death and then the challenge to work towards it.

            May God bless us in the meeting of that wonderful challenge. Amen.