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Sermon for 7 May 2017

FIRST READING Acts 2:42-47

42And {the believers} devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

 

PSALM Psalm 23

1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. 3He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his name’s sake. 4Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over. 6Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

SECOND READING 1 Peter 2:19-25

19For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

GOSPEL John 10:1-10

1{Jesus said,} “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

 

A SERVICE THE CHURCH WILL NEVER FORGET

Burt Kettinger tells about a small church in Rocky River, Ohio, just west of Cleveland where he grew up. This church had a small restroom at the back of the Chancel with a door right behind the pulpit for the convenience of the pastor. There’s also a door on the other side of the restroom that led out to the church parking lot. One day the pastor was waxing eloquent on Rev. 3:20 which reads, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” With great emphasis he exclaimed that the Lord is standing at the door of our hearts crying, “Let Me in. Let Me in!”
Adding a touch of drama to his message the pastor walked back to the restroom door behind the pulpit. He knocked on the door for emphasis again saying, “Let Me in. Let Me in!” He did this a total of three times reminding the congregation each time that God was at our heart’s door crying, “Let Me in. Let Me in!” After the 3rd knock on the door, the pastor paused for effect. Suddenly back from behind the closed door came the plaintive cry, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I’ll open it up in a minute.” I bet that was a service that small congregation will remember for years to come!
This morning I want to take a few minutes to focus on a service that happened two thousand years ago that the church of Jesus Christ is still talking about today. On the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter preached an amazing sermon. The result was that three thousand persons were added to the Church that day. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church and on June 4 we’ll celebrate that historic occasion. But what I want to hone in on this morning is what happened to those 3,000 people after they were converted? On whether or not, the story ends there.
We know, based on past experience, that it would normally end there for many people. There are those who go to an evangelistic crusade or to a very meaningful retreat or to a richly rewarding spiritual life weekend and get extremely enthusiastic about their faith . . . at least for a while. But soon the enthusiasm cools. Before long they’re back in a deeper rut than before. As Jesus explained in the parable of the Sower and the Seed, (Matt. 13) sometimes the gospel is gladly received but the person either has no root (the rocky soil) and allows the persecutions of this world to be turned away or allows the cares and concerns of this world (seeds among the thorns) to take precedence. However, on the Day of Pentecost, things were different.
In our First reading for today, Dan/Michael read, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47) In these few verses we have the true essence of the church–who we are and what we’re about.
From our reading, we learn that the church, first of all, is a community gathered together for study and for worship. Again, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer . . .” Hopefully, that’s why we’ve gathered here today. Henry Ward Beecher once said, “The church isn’t a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.” So, recognizing our short-comings, we keep coming back to Sunday school, attend Bible Studies and worship, week after week, month after month, year after year. It sounds as if we have a lot to learn, and we do! But truth be told, our standards for study and worship are minimal at best.
I was reading about some of the Moslem people. One of the largest universities in the world is the Al-Azar in Cairo. This Mohammedan institution, with something like twenty-one thousand students, requires every applicant to repeat the Koran from memory. Stop and consider that. The Koran is about the same length as the New Testament. It takes three days to recite it. I wonder how you and I would fare if asked to quote just one chapter from the New Testament? Perhaps we don’t demand as much from Christian disciples as we ought. For some people, simply coming to worship is asking too much.
You’ve probably heard me tell the story about the little boy who went to church with his grandparents. His grandmother sat with the choir. The little boy and his grandfather sat with the congregation. But the grandmother had a problem. It really disturbed her to see grandfather nod off to sleep every Sunday in the middle of the sermon. Finally, she decided on a plan. She gave her grandson fifty cents each Sunday morning to poke grandpa in the ribs whenever he fell asleep. This plan worked until Easter Sunday morning. The church was packed.
Grandmother was once again sitting in the choir. She noticed grandfather nodding off. However, this time Tommy made no effort to wake him. Grandfather even started snoring right there in the crowded Easter service. Still Tommy did nothing. After the service grandmother was quite disturbed. She said, “Tommy what happened? You knew I would pay you fifty cents after the service if you kept grandfather awake.” Tommy said, “Yes Ma’am, but grandfather offered me a $1.00 if I would let him sleep.” I’m sure there are those who can relate to the with grandfather.
Worship isn’t always the most exciting place at times. But I like another little story concerning two boys who were talking about Noah and the ark. They were thinking about the odors and the noise and the inconvenience of being cooped up on the boat with all those animals–about how crowded and about how dirty and how smelly it must have been, and about the problem of separating animals that were natural enemies and so on. Then one of the boys said, “I just don’t think I could stand that.”
The other little boy thought for a while and said, “Well, yes, it must have been awful. But think of it the other way. It was still the best thing afloat.” The same may be said that about the church. Sometimes this isn’t the most exciting place to be, and sometimes church people aren’t all they ought to be. However, it’s still the best thing afloat. And those early believers were certainly excited about it. They met regularly for study and for worship. But that wasn’t all they gathered for. They not only studied and worshiped, they also had great fellowship.
Those who gather with the apostles broke bread together, they talked together, they laughed together and they sang together. “See how those Christians love one another,” observers declared. It must have been a joyous experience being part of that first church. Any church that’s doing what it ought to be doing is a wonderful place to be. We enjoy fellowship suppers, Vacation Bible School, youth meetings, Hearts of Bethel meetings, ladies’ retreats, work days and fund raisers–these things may not seem very spiritual to many people, but we would be making a terrible mistake if we were to minimize the importance of fellowship to the life of the church.
Christian fellowship is one of the greatest gifts that we have to offer the world. Even if I were a pagan, I would want my children to be in Sunday school–I would want my youngster to be part of the youth group–I would want my aging mother to be in Widow/Widowers group here at the church. Even if I didn’t see much theological content there, I would want those I love to have the benefit of being among Christian people.
You remember the Peanuts comic strip found in most newspapers? What I enjoyed the most was how Charles Shultz had a way of looking into our hearts. In a strip years ago, Mr. Shultz has Lucy saying, “It’s my life. It’s my life and I’ll do whatever I want with it. I’m my own person. It’s my life and I’m the one who has to live it.” In the last frame she grins and adds, “With a little help.” We all need that little bit of help from our friends.
Harry Golden, a wonderful Jewish storyteller, tells of a time in his youth when he asked his father, who was not a believer, “Dad if you don’t believe in God, why do you go to the synagogue regularly?” Harry Golden’s father answered, “Jews go to the synagogue for all sorts of reasons. My friend Garfinkel, who is Orthodox, goes to talk to God. I go to talk with Garfinkel.”
To be sure, that’s not the best reason for coming to church. But that’s missing the point. When we were baptized into the Christian Church, we didn’t become an island unto ourselves. We became part of a body–the body of Christ. There’s no such thing as a solitary Christian, except perhaps under the most unimaginable circumstances of deprivation. Our word “fellowship” comes from an Anglo Saxon word “fee-lowship.”
Fee was an old Anglo-Saxon word for cow, which was the form of wealth in days of yore. Neighbors would put their cows together, breaking down the fences between them, to show trust in one another. They were creating fee-lowship through the mingling of their cows. You need some place in your life where you can trust other people–where people will accept you as you are and won’t take advantage of you. The world, it seems, is always looking to take advantage of us. The Church, however, is a place where we can be loved just because we’re a fellow believer in Jesus Christ. Of course, there are dangers, even in Christian fellowship.
The greatest danger is that we become just another clique–a group of people who are so turned inward that we’re blind to the needs of others. Dr. Eugene Brice tells about a guy who toured a factory. “This is the world’s largest grease factory,” the tour guide said as they started through the gigantic plant. They walked through rows of machines with gears turning, wheels revolving, cylinders whirling, belts running, huge motors roaring away. Toward the end of the tour the guy asked the guide, “What do you do with all the grease you make here? To whom do you sell it?”
The guide said, “Oh, no. We don’t sell it. We have to use all the grease that we produce to lubricate the machinery here at the factory.” Now here’s a parable if I ever heard one. As a congregation, we can put all of our energy, all of our time in church to lubricating our own machinery–spending all our time planning our services, working on our finances, enjoying our fellowship opportunities and all the while ignoring the needs of the world outside. The Great Commission, given by Jesus, contains 4 active verbs; Go, make, Baptize and teach.
The number of those being added to the early church was increasing daily. That meant that they were constantly enlarging the fellowship. It’s hard to find joy in a church that’s not enlarging its circle of fellowship. If we’re to keep fellowship to ourselves, the fellowship dies. When we keep enlarging that circle of fellowship we have life, hope, meaning, purpose and joy. The early disciples met together for study and worship and for fellowship. They broke bread together and they praised God with joy. And there’s one more thing that characterized that early group of disciples. They spent much time in prayer.
Those early believers recognized that theirs was not simply a human enterprise.
One Evangelical pastor, speaking about his own denomination said, “In Acts 2 they prayed for ten days, Peter preached for ten minutes and three thousand got saved. Today, churches pray for ten minutes, preach for ten days and three get saved.” That’s a remarkable difference between the church at Pentecost and today’s congregation, isn’t it? What we’re called to do as a church isn’t merely a human enterprise. Nor, is it simply another social organization.
E. Stanley Jones once said, “The streams that turn the machinery of the world take their rise in silent places.” You and I need a source of power for our lives, and we need a source of power for our church that comes from beyond our own energies, desires and commitment. It’s a power that takes its rise in silent places. We need to spend time in prayer. One of the most effective men who ever lived was Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi was a lawyer already in his forties and living in South Africa when he conceived the idea of freeing India from foreign control. He never used a gun, he recruited no armies, he possessed no great personal fortune, he resorted to no fixes, no payoffs, no compromises. Virtually the only source of his power was prayer.
Even while he was in South Africa, he began to crusade for his people’s rights. At that time, South Africa wasn’t a very good place to begin a crusade. He once wrote, “There was a law directed especially against Indians in South Africa and I had come there to oppose it. My ship was met by a hostile mob, and I was advised to stay on board for the sake of my physical safety: the crowd had come with the announced intention of lynching me. I went ashore, nevertheless. I was stoned and beaten a good deal but I had not prayed for safety, but for the courage to face the mob. And that courage came and did not fail me.” Anyone who wants to be a witness for God is going to have to depend upon prayer. If this church, like the New Testament church, stands tall in our community, we’re going to have to have the power of God uplifting us. There’s only one way that power will come. That’s through unceasing prayer.
I confess, I’ve never preached a sermon that brought three thousand people to their knees. And I’ll also confess that this isn’t the most entertaining place you can be this morning. And certainly, this church isn’t all God means for it to be. And if we’re being truthful, we’ll all confess that. Churches are funny places. Churches can be very sad places. Still, like Noah’s Ark, we believe that it’s the best thing afloat. This is where we come to worship and this is where we share Him together. This is where we gather together for study. And this is where we gather to have genuine fellowship together–to laugh together, love together, sing together, give thanks together.
Our call as disciples is to reach out to the people we know and invite them to this place so that we might add to the church everyone who needs Jesus. We don’t do this to simply grow the numbers here at Bethel, but to grow the kingdom of God. We don’t go, make, teach and baptize for our benefit; we do this so that we can spread the love of Jesus Christ throughout this community and this world to the glory of God.
Amen

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