Sermon for
Youth Sunday, November 9, 2008
Given by Dcn. Eric Ockrin
A man appears before St. Peter at the pearly gates. “Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asks.
“Well, I can think of one thing,” the man
offers. “Once, on a trip to the Black Hills, out in
I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen. So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker.
I smacked him on the head, kicked his bike
over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground, and told him,
St. Peter was impressed.
“When did this happen?”
“Just a few minutes ago.”
I’m not sure what your image of the Apostle Paul is like, but in my imagination, Paul’s persona is a lot like this newly deceased gentleman in this joke. Scriptures are pretty clear that Paul was a bit of a spitfire who in several instances threw caution to the wind because of his convictions.
As we read accounts of Paul’s ministry in Scripture, one thing I admire is his persistence in spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ regardless of the cost. Like the man in the joke who displays true zeal to protect the women from those who sought her harm, Paul’s interest to protect the early church from lurking dangers was very real.
As a keeper of the faith, we see a series of letters written during Paul’s apostolic ministry which either validate that which his good or gives direction to correct segments of the fledgling church that were on dangerous ground. It is from this point of correction that that we pick up in our New Testament reading from 1 Corinthians.
The context of our passage this morning is Paul addressing a quarreling and jealous body of believers. Amongst other things, the Corinthian church had become overly status oriented, interested in who was teaching them more than in the actual substance and practice of their faith. Given this information I believe our focus this morning is twofold:
1) Do we really understand our foundation?
2) Can we get busy building on this foundation?
Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1Chorinthains Chapter 3. We will begin in verse 9. It reads:
“For we (Paul and Apollos) are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
You have to appreciate Paul’s imagery of manual laborer/builder here. It was intentional. He knew that one of the correctives he needed to bring was a Corinthian church was not to focus so much on the status of the teacher. So . . . by associating himself as lower class citizen/builder, he would have really gotten their attention because it did not fit with their notions on who was important. They would have rather heard Paul and Apollos liked to governors or lawyers. In their culture, the value of what people had to say was often based in terms of their status.
The more I thought about this, the more I began to wonder if the church today is like this? Do we sometimes believe that those who are most credible have published books, earned their MDiv or PhD? Don’t we love our study tools and Biblical commentaries because they offer expert perspectives? While these are all good things they are substitute for a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.
My wife, Sarah and I spent a few years operating a cleaning business for supplemental income. Something that always struck me was the air of superiority in some of the people I interacted with. It seemed as though the work I did as a custodian or cleaner made me less than them. My dressing in old cloths and rubber gloves seemed to skew their impression of me and their attention to the things I had to say. Maybe they assumed something less from a guy who cleaned their sinks, emptied their trash, scrubbed their toilets, and washed their floors.
But isn’t this where we would find Jesus? Of course he spent time in the synagogues and he was trained as a Rabbi. Yet, he spent a great deal of time the slums with the hookers, thieves, and the addicts. He did not play it safe and only hang out in his synagogue groups and among like minded believers. Jesus got dirty! Jesus was a builder! He was carpenter that sought to craft and mend souls that were broken.
You know one of the dangers of having a beautiful space to worship is that we begin to build our foundation and identity on this physical space. The space, if we are not careful, begins to validate our spirituality. We may become protective of our things and venture less and less outside of our comfort zone. We begin to play church here and care less about our community around us. I apologize if this seems harsh but it was the word stirred in me this week.
Here me well now . . . Our value is not dictated by the beauty of our surroundings but by the foundation on which we stand. So again my questions for you this morning are: Do we really recognize our foundation? And can we get busy building?
Friends, being a Christian is not about playing church on Sunday or Wednesday with only a passing thought of the least the lost and the lonely right next door to us. Being a Christian is not about compartmentalizing our language and actions for short periods of time. Building a church means getting dirty. I don’t see a Jesus in my Bible that sought to stay clean.
You know as a dad, I sometimes have a problem with letting my kids just be kids. I don’t always like them getting dirty because it means more work for me later. I have to clean up the messes they make, wash the mud from faces and hands that discovered the joy of making mud pies (particularly with Eliana).
Beyond my role as a father to my children I am one of your clergy. This means that I need to heed Paul’s warnings for teachers in the Church. In my actions or words, will I encourage you to come alive and build well or will I keep things safe? Paul asks me, Eric how are you building God’s Church. What materials are you using?? In the later part of verse 10 Paul warns those in leadership, “Each one should be careful how he builds.” In other words, materials matter! What I say has positive or negative consequences.
To paraphrase John Calvin’s reflections on verses 16 and 17 it seems as though improper teaching of doctrine is profane to the temple or church and will result in God’s judgment on that person. Again, I am responsible before God in what I say to you.
A shift to our Gospel passage foreshadows
Christ’s judgment toward those who defile his
Brothers and sisters, whatever our distraction my be, what ever we are building that is not consistent with the foundation of our faith, we have to let go of. (repeat this). You see . . . those people who sold goods in the temple area during the Passover were selling a distraction, a perversion of what God had intended for His people.
By Jesus driving all of those things out we observe the purification only He can offer the Church. Our Gospel verses indicate that Christ distains distractions. Once He clears the temple, all is laid bare except for His true foundation. Christ is foreshadowing that he is the only source of reconciliation with the father. One commentary says: “In him, we come to know God the Father because in him we have the source of every blessing. When he is not acknowledged as such he is no longer regarded as the foundation”.
May I encourage us
all this morning to ask God for wisdom to turn from any false images we have of
the Church. And . . . as we approach the Table, may be come face to face with
the reality of who we are as Baptized believers.
As we feed on Jesus’
body and blood may we see clearly and build on this solid foundation. May we turn from any urge to look at someone
else and wish we had what they had? May
we stop living in Christian pretences of what we think we ought to be? May we stop hiding behind any mask we wear. May we understand that we not building well when we
live in bondage or fear?
Church, you are the children
of God in relationship with his son Jesus Christ. The source of our strength is
Jesus’ sacrifice and the fellowship of His Spirit. God must be our foundation. I pray that as we really grasp this we would see
what the Prophet Ezekiel spoke of in our Old Testament reading. May we witness
a mighty river that converges from this place, and flows to the streets of this
neighborhood and this city.
To quote Ezekiel:
Verse 2: “He then
brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the
outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. (Whether
it is coincidence God only knows but this sanctuary is on the south side of the
building) Read this verse again!
Verse 8-9: He said to
me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the
Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live
wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this
water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows
everything will live.
Verse
12: Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both
banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.
Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to
them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, May
we take this image of life as a picture of what you want for your church. Please help us to build well on the
foundation of your son and free us from bondages and distractions that pervert
your intentions for us. Help us we pray
to get busy building and to partner with you in getting dirty for the life of
your Kingdom. We pray these things in
Jesus Name Amen.