A Church IN the World
A Church IN the World by Rev. L. John Gable
January 26, 2020
This morning we conclude a short series of sermons concerning the Church’s role and responsibility in relation to the world in which we live. To bring us up to speed, in week one, two weeks ago, we talked about a Church FOR the world and agreed that the Church, and by that I mean the collective body or company of those who are followers of Jesus rather than any one particular body, such as Tab; that the Church must be FOR the world because the God we worship and serve is FOR the world. It only makes sense that we must be FOR those things God is FOR if we are rightly to be called His people. We further agreed that the primary calling of the Church is the proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of all people and that by faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. This desire to share the Good News of God’s love compels us both to pray FOR the world and to become engaged and involved in it, again, out of God’s love for it.
Last week we expanded that thought as we talked about being a Church TO the World agreeing that our commitment to pray for the world opens our eyes and ears and hearts to the needs around us and within us, both spiritual and social; prayer being the necessary and essential action which precedes any other action we may take in responding to the needs of those around us.
Which then brings us to our topic for today: being a Church IN the world. While we may agree that we are called to live as Jesus’ followers IN the world, how do we do that without becoming “like” the world? As we read this morning from Romans, Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world (do not take on the shape or the pattern or the behaviors of this world), but (rather) be transformed by the renewing of your minds, (be changed from the inside out by the living Spirit of God within you), so that you may discern (see and understand and do) what is the will of God- what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Admittedly, this is the great concern for many whenever they sense that the Church has gotten too involved in the social issues of the day. There is a fear that in the desire to address all the social issues and needs around us we will somehow lose our distinct calling to be a spiritual community, or has one has put it that we will bend so far over backward in an attempt to accommodate the culture that we will fall in to it, and in so doing become something more like a social agency or club than a Church. To this point, Archibald Hunter in his book, A Pattern For Life, writes, “The corruption of the best is ever the worst. There is no remedy for it when God’s salt goes bad. If the Church fails the world, what then? If Christ’s people lose their characteristic tang – their fidelity to the Gospel- their loyalty to their Lord – then the world is on the road to spiritual decay.” So the Church, as the recipients and successors of Jesus’ ministry, must always be reminded that our primary identity and calling is spiritual, the sharing of the Gospel of salvation. The first call of the Church is not to transform society; but to be a community living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But curiously, as it does this, it actually does serve to transform the society around it. Our being “salt and light” for Christ does in fact impact and change the world around us, not primarily by what we do (that is secondary), but by who we are as representatives of the Risen Christ and witnesses of His saving grace (that being our primary calling).
If you were with us last week you may recall I told you the Parable of the Light-saving Station and left you with a cliff-hanger…a little teaser to get you to come back this week. The story reminds us of our primary calling and offers us a cautionary note if we abandon it.
“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a small group of people who were concerned for the safety of those at sea so they established a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.
“Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
“Some of the new members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea, (so) they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building.” It was at this point in the story that I stopped as it reminds us of our primary calling, to “seek and save the lost”, both in word and in action; but then as the story continues it offers a cautionary note if we were to forget or abandon that calling.
“Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.
Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired life boat crews to do this work. The mission of lifesaving was still given lip-service, but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the lifesaving activities personally.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, some had skin of a different color, some spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
“At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal pattern of the club. But other members insisted that lifesaving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast, so they did.
“As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another lifesaving station was founded. If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but now most of the people drown!”
The parable begs the question, and perhaps prompts the debate, what is the Church’s primary role and responsibility in response to the needs around us, is it spiritual or social, what we say or what we do, in here and out there? Does the Church exist primarily for those who are part of it, or for those who are not? This then gets at the central message of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25. We are familiar with this teaching; a portion of it is carved in to the altar rail in our sanctuary.
On what will we ultimately be judged as to our “worthiness” to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, not that any of us are in any way “worthy” on our own? If we consider this teaching alone you will notice that there is no mention of a confession of faith either by the giver or the receiver; there is no mention of doing these acts of kindness “in Jesus’ name” or because Jesus told us to; there is only the importance of extending an act of mercy: a meal, a cup of cold water, a word of welcome. Notice also that there is nothing remarkable, much less miraculous about any of these. They ask little more of us than common kindness and compassion in response to one in need. This teaching offers us a good reminder that there is no such thing as an insignificant act if something as simple as a cup of water makes us “Kingdom-worthy” and there is no such thing as an insignificant person if in them we can see Jesus. Perhaps this is what Paul was getting at when he wrote that our minds should be transformed/renewed such that we would see others, not as the world sees them, but as God sees them. What a renewing of the mind we would experience if we came to see everyone we meet as a beloved Child of God, either as one in whom Christ lives or for whom Christ died?
So, what is the role and responsibility of the Church in relation to the world? Is it spiritual or social? Something we say or something we do? Would it bother you terribly if I said the answer is “yes”? There is an inherent tension here, isn’t there? I believe Scripture, and more specifically Jesus, intentionally creates that tension for us lest we abandon one aspect of our calling for the other. Recall the story of the lawyer who approached Jesus and asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” He asked for one and Jesus gave him two: “Love God and love your neighbor”. “But I only want one” he argued, but Jesus refused to parse them. Love of God (spiritual) cannot rightly be separated from love of neighbor (social), and we create a false and unintended dichotomy when we attempt to do so; the two are inseparably one, so they must be held in tension, or perhaps better, in balance.
So what does that mean for us, here, today? How do we live in this tension? How do we strike this balance between proclamation of the Gospel and acts of compassion? I believe the simplest and clearest answer is to resist trying to decide between one or the other, and continually remind ourselves of our motivation as to why we do what we do and for Whom do we do it?
Consider Tab’s history, the kinds of ministries we have birthed and launched and those we continue to be involved in, in here and out there. Would it be possible to say that any of them were started solely out of a love for God without a concern for our neighbors in need, or vice versa? Was the Raphael Health Center started as a ministry to address the health concerns of our neighbors? Absolutely! And where did that motivation come from? From our love of God, right? Walk in to the lobby over at Raphael and you will see a beautiful cross hanging in the center of the waiting room and the mission statement on the wall boldly proclaiming “the healing ministry of Jesus Christ”. So is Raphael a health care center with a Christian emphasis or a Christian ministry focused on health care? Yes! Both of those, right?
What about Tab Recreation? Is it a sports program with a Christian emphasis or a Christian ministry using the attraction of sports? Is the Open Door or Fresh Stop a meal program or a service of compassion? Is Tab tutoring an educational program or an extension of our ministry? And I could go on and on.
There are some who say than in order for something to really be a ministry and not just a program we need to make sure we add the tag line “in Jesus’ name”. I’m not so sure about that and again it goes back to the question of motivation. Is it necessary to say, “I am doing this in Jesus’ name” when we give a cup of cold water? Does the other need to know that, or does it suffice that we know why we are doing what we are doing? The answer we give to that question may depend on which “syllable we put the emphasis”: is an act of compassion extended to another motivated by a social or physical need on their part or by a spiritual desire on ours? It would be difficult to tease those apart, wouldn’t it? So, I would suggest the answer is “yes, both/and”. There are times in which we must tell why we do what we do and other times when we must simply do. Sometimes we are “salt” working in ways hidden, and other times we are “light” acting in ways more public, all can still be done “in Jesus’ name.” If all we were to do is preach and teach “in here” we would not be fulfilling our calling to serve “out there”; and conversely, if all we were to do is serve we would not be not fulfilling our calling to “tell” the Good News!
Candidly, I appreciate the “tension” that Scripture put us in, the balance it calls us to. Perhaps the surest way we can safeguard that the Church remain “in the world but not of it” is to continually remind ourselves of who we are and Whose we are and why we do what we do and for whom we do it. I think Elton Trueblood, theologian and scholar at Earlham College School of Religion, summarized it best when he writes, “If the Church is to have its desired impact on the world socially, it must maintain and deepen its roots spiritually.” And so to the “tension” inherent in that we can say, “Amen!”
As I conclude this sermon and this series let me remind you of our stated mission here at Tab; it is “to demonstrate the Kingdom of God through worship, discipleship and service.” That statement is printed for you on the front cover of your bulletin this morning. And fleshing that out further, our Vision Renewal statement, adopted in 2016, is based on three pillars, three visions or desires for each of us individually and all of us together:
Greater Faith
Tab will be a place where people are challenged to grow stronger in faith, to become equipped to serve, and to pursue opportunities for innovative and collaborative service.
Deeper Relationships
Tab will be a catalyst for deeper, loving relationships that embrace differences for the sake of fellowship and service.
A Stronger Community
Tab will work in partnership with its neighbors to strengthen the Mapleton-Fall Creek community, advocate for justice and promote God’s shalom for all people.
Does this vision direct us toward being or doing? Toward a love of God or a love of neighbor? In here or out there? The answer is “Yes, it does” and so may it be for us because we are the Church, Christ’s witnesses and ambassadors FOR the world, TO the world and IN the World, all to God’s honor and glory. Amen.
Prayer: O Lord, we have listened to Your Word and loved it; we have found comfort and inspiration in song and prayer; we have enjoyed the companionship of those who, with kindred minds and hearts, have praised and worshiped You. Now help us to understand that as we leave this sacred house of God we shall become Your Church in the world.” To the honor and glory of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer.