Associate Pastor's Sermon

 

          The world seems too entrenched in sin to hear or respond to the Gospel. Billy Joel listed many of the plagues of the world in his 1989 song “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”[1] I’ll try to give you some of the list without singing…

“Red China, Richard Nixon, North Korea…H Bomb,
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser…Communist Bloc,
Roy Cohn, Budapest, Khrushchev (krush-chev)…Trouble in the Suez,
Little Rock, Lebanon…Children of Thalidomide, (tal-id-o-mide)
Space Monkey, Mafia, Castro…Edsel is a no-go,
Eichman, Berlin… Belgians in the Congo, 
Bay of Pigs invasion, British Politician sex, J.F.K. blown away,
what else do I have to say…
Watergate, Palestine…Terror on the airline, Ayatollah's in Iran,
Russians in Afghanistan, suicide, foreign debts, homeless Vets,
AIDS, Crack…China's under martial law…
I can't take it anymore”

“We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it”

          That fire has been burning since the world’s been turning, since the Garden of Eden. We in this room didn’t start it, but we keep it lit. We keep it lit as our sins add fuel to the fire. But, we can fight it. We can continue to act with hope that the God’s Kingdom will come on this earth.

          First, we have to confess our sins and accept God’s grace. We act not to earn that grace. We act in response to the gift of free grace. It’s not just for us. It’s for everyone. God’s saving grace (v. 21) is available for everyone (v. 5) and is to be shared with the world. 

          Richard Perto suggests that the coming of the Holy Spirit to all who were gathered, from every nation, “symbolizes … the capacity of the gospel to address all sorts and conditions of people in their own terms.”[2] The message of salvation is not just relevant to us and our situation. It speaks to every person in every time and in every place.

          And, hearing the Gospel from the pulpit every Sunday within the walls of the church doesn’t give us a free pass on the call to preach the Good News in the world.

          The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to empower us to share the Gospel. Us, both in the church and in the world. Like us, gathered for a word this morning, The Disciples were gathered in one room together in Jerusalem because Jesus in Acts 1 tells the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit. Then it came in a violent rush of wind down from Heaven filling the whole house. The Spirit came upon them like blazing fire and filled each of them. 

          And they spoke. The first fruit if the Spirit, as She irrupts into the gathered community, is proclamation.[3] If the Spirit enabled them to prophecy (v. 4), then, the foundation of discipleship is rooted in prophecy. The miraculous presence of the Holy Spirit in the community causes them to speak. Proclamation is the primary mission of that first community of believers. 

          This speaking in tongues proclamation is not confused and unintelligible like that at Babel as some might belive. The message of God is intelligible and intelligent in many tongues.[4] The coming of the Spirit marks a shift in the message of salvation. Jesus the one who had been the Proclaimer of God’s salvation and the forgiveness of sin became the one whom Disciples would proclaim to the world.

          Christian Tradition holds that this story tells of the birth of the church. Perto writes: “… {In the beginning, there is a} shift from Jesus as a subject who gathers followers by proclaiming the presence of God’s reign and demonstrating that advent through healings, exorcisms, and acceptance of all at table, to Jesus as the object of proclamation by disciples who now recruit followers.”[5] At Pentecost, “the Proclaimer (that is the earthly Jesus) became the Proclaimed (as the heavenly Lord).”[6]

          This miraculous event caused such a great noise that a bewildered crowd gathered around the house wondering what was going on. There were Jews from every nation. And they all listened and they heard the Good News proclaimed in their native language. Amazed and perplexed. Some thought the Disciples were drunk.

Peter would not have that misperception spread around. Peter, filled with and empowered by the Spirit, went out to the crowd and let them have it…He went out and raised some Heaven. The world didn’t understand (v. 12) what was going on but Peter explained it to them (v. 15 – 21). Biblical Scholar Will Willimon reminds us that “Peter is the first, the very first to lift up his voice and proclaim openly the word that only a few weeks before he could not speak, even…at midnight.”[7]

          That’s alarming. But, there have been many studies which have all produced similar statistics – the church is on its way out. Over the past 50 years, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has lost over 50% of its membership. And we’re not alone. In just the last 10 years, the Presbyterians have lost 20% and Methodists are in the same situation. Most mainline Protestant churches have more room in the pews.

          Disciples Pastor Martha Grace Reese has research more than 40,000 mainline Protestant churches and found that on average church have lost 25% of their membership in the last 50 years. She says we can do a couple of things to fix this. “…we can get 70% of the way there by praying, talking and focusing on things outside the church.”

          “She says that she found three shared values of growing churches, 1) people love Jesus, 2) people could talk comfortably in normal words about Jesus, and 3) leaders have extraordinary focus outside the church walls.” She also said individual and group spiritual growth are important. She suggests not using Biblical or Christian jargon. Also, don’t tell them their lives will be changed, most people don’t want change in their lives.[8]

          In her follow-up research, the churches who were experiencing growth were engaged in spiritual growth, prayer and faith sharing.

          So I present you with another challenge. As I asked earlier for you to pray for those in your community, pray with people. When someone asks you to pray for them, take a moment to pray with them. It doesn’t have to be flowery or churchy – it can be as simple as “Dear God, help my friend.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

          It is amazing to witness how God answers our prayers and exciting to see how God is working in the lives of those we pray for.